With great apprehension, the world is now watching the birth of a novel pandemic already causing tremendous suffering, death, and disruption of normal life. Uncertainty and dread are exacerbated by the belief that what we are experiencing is new and mysterious. However, deadly pandemics and disease emergences are not new phenomena: they have been challenging human existence throughout recorded history. Some have killed sizeable percentages of humanity, but humans have always searched for, and often found, ways of mitigating their deadly effects. We here review the ancient and modern histories of such diseases, discuss factors associated with their emergences, and attempt to identify lessons that will help us meet the current challenge.

中文翻译：

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流行病 COVID-19 加入了历史上的流行病军团。


全世界现在都怀着极大的忧虑注视着一种新型大流行病的诞生，这种流行病已经造成了巨大的痛苦、死亡和正常生活的破坏。我们相信我们正在经历的事情是新的和神秘的，这加剧了不确定性和恐惧。然而，致命的流行病和疾病的出现并不是新现象：在有记录的历史中，它们一直在挑战人类的生存。有些已经杀死了相当大比例的人类，但人类一直在寻找并且经常找到减轻其致命影响的方法。我们在此回顾此类疾病的古代和现代历史，讨论与其出现相关的因素，并试图找出有助于我们应对当前挑战的经验教训。