Infectious diseases have spread as human beings spread across the world. Diseases and illnesses have plagued humanity for centuries. Even in the current era, disease pandemics are experienced, with the present being the 21 st century Corona Virus pandemic. As medical advances, disease outbreaks have been occurring, challenging the ability of health care to deal with epidemics. Diseases plague began from the period of the Neolithic Revolution and are still happening as human beings shift from one activity to another. Response to pandemic has differed over centuries; however, some response and impact of the pandemic are similar. The current COVID-19 pandemic has shown the flaws of the world in the preparedness of a pandemic. The paper will trace the history of pandemic and compare the current Covid-19 to past pandemics while citing lessons learned and been applied to solve the current crisis.
The history of pandemic began during the Neolithic Revolution, where the society was shifting from hunting and gathering to agrarian. The shift to agriculture created more room for interaction between the animals and human beings, leading to an increased speed of the spread of diseases. As humans became civilized, the occurrence of pandemics increased. The three deadliest pandemics that occurred in human history were the Plague of Justinian, which occurred between (541-542 BC leading to death if approximately 50 million people. Although the number of people who succumbed from the pandemic is unknown, the Roman Empire was highly hit by the pandemic, which contributed to its fall. Black Death pandemic was the second deadliest pandemic between 1347-1351, which killed 200 million ( Liritzis, 2020) . The Black Death plague originated in rats and spread to human beings through infected pleas. Europe was a highly hit country where 30-50% of Europe was killed. The continent was highly affected, and it took over 200 years to recover the population. Smallpox began from 1520 onwards and led to the death of over 56 million people. Native America was the highest hit country, where approximately 90% got killed ( Liritzis, 2020) . The first vaccine to treat virus pandemic was discovered through smallpox in 1770 by Edward Jenner.
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In modern history, the mother of all pandemics is the Spanish flu, which occurred during the First World War in 1918. Spanish flu affected one-third of the world population and killed over 50 million people. In the United States alone, the pandemic killed approximately 675,000 Americans ( Cohn, 2012) . Many theories have been presented on Spanish flu, where some believed it originated from France, and others argue it's from the United States, Kansas and others from China.
During the outbreak, Spanish was a neutral nation, and it gave the press the freedom to publish an early account of the illness. Spanish flu of Influenza ( H1N1 virus) is a highly contagious disease that affects the respiratory system. Influenza's initial symptoms are sore throat, headache, tiredness, dry cough, loss of appetite, excessive sweating, and stomach illnesses. With time, the sickness prolongs and affects the respiratory organs before developing into pneumonia. Although there are some similar symptoms, Spanish flu differs from the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Other pandemics of the 20 th and 21 st century include Asian flu (H2N2 virus) of 1957-1958, which killed, Hong Kong Flu (H3N2 virus) of 1968-1970, which killed approximately 1 million people ( Cohn, 2012) . HIV/AIDS of 1981 to present has killed over 35 million, Swine flu (H1N1 virus) of 2009-2010 killed 200,000 and the ongoing coronavirus (COVID-19) which has so far affected approximately 4,628,549 and killed 308,645 people across the world.
Coronavirus (COVID-19) can be compared to the Influenza pandemic of 1918. Corona Virus is an acute respiratory disease caused by a novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2). Due to its impact on the respiratory, the genome sequence of SARS-CoV-2 is highly identical to CoV RaTG13 found in bats ( Guo et al., 2020). The history of Corona Virus (COVID-19) is traced back on December 8, 2019, when Wuhan residents revealed symptoms of an unknown virus. The virus was linked to the world-famous Huanan seafood market with a virus from an animal ( Rothan & Byrareddy, 2020) . Immediately, the World Health Organization took immediate measures to identify the disease and develop effective measures to prevent the spread of the virus by closing Hunana seafood. The clinical symptoms of Covid-19 include fever, dry cough, fatigue, headache, sore throat and difficulty in breathing. The elderly population and people with underlying conditions like cancer, hypertension, HIV/AIDS and others that lower body immunity are susceptible to the infection ( Rothan & Byrareddy, 2020) . Similar to Spanish flu, COVID-19 spreads through air droplets when an infected person coughs or sneezing, leading to the release of numerous virus particles into the air and surface. Spanish flu spread across the world through movements of troops during the war. Soldiers aged 15 to 34 whose immune system had been weakened by conditions of war, like malnourishment and stress were vulnerable population (Fetzer et al., 2020) Differently, Covid-19 is affecting people of all age similarly with people with underlying conditions been vulnerable population.
Today, the measures taken to curb the spread of the Corona Virus are similar to those taken in the past to curb the spread of smallpox, swine flu and Spanish flu. Back in 1918, medical experts advised people to avoid crowded areas and body contacts like shaking hands. Also, people were encouraged to wear masks to cover their mouths and noses ( Liritzis, 2020) . Various quarantine centres were imposed, and the governments closed public places like schools, churches and theatres. Governments imposed sanitary measures to prevent spitting in the streets. During 1918, health care facilities were not very developed, and there was a shortage of doctors and hospitals. Schools and other institutions were turned into makeshift hospitals, and medical students were encouraged to assist the physicians. Similarly, nations are taking adequate measures to curb the spread of COVID-19 among them, closing down the countries and restricting international flight. Countries like Europe have locked down, closed of schools, churches, businesses and other social gatherings ( Kraeme et al., 2020) . As clinician continues to look for a suitable vaccine, people are encouraged to take measures like observing social distancing, regular washing of hands, disinfecting surfaces and wearing face masks. Those who experience symptoms of the virus are encouraged to self-quarantine for 14 days, which is the incubation period of SARS-CoV-2 ( Rothan & Byrareddy, 2020) . Those who test positive for the virus are kept in an isolation room to avoid further spreading the disease.
Although COVID-19 is new and has not reached the level of Spanish flu, similar effects are experienced globally. Spanish flu killed millions of people, leaving bodies spilled in the street as cemeteries and funeral parlours became overwhelmed. Health facilities became overwhelmed, and the economy was affected. Companies sent employees home with unpaid leaves while others got pay cut. Also, fake news on the spread and treatment of the virus were experienced in various press. Today, similar cases are experienced in the wake of COVID-19, European countries like Italy have recorded a high number of deaths and positive cases. By March, cases of abandoned bodies were experienced in Italy while cemeteries and health care system became overwhelmed. Other countries like Cuba, China and Russia had to send medical help to assist. The world economy is experiencing a drastic fall in the global stock market due to the closure of many businesses, which has rendered millions jobless and others getting pay cuts ( Fetzer et al., 2020) . However, since the world has become digitalized, several other businesses are still operating through online platforms. Although there have been cases of fake news and denial of media access to information in China, the media coverage of COVID-19 is commendable and helpful to the public.
Lessons learned from the treatment of Spanish flu are being applied today to avoid similar mistakes. The treatment and effort to develop the COVID-19 vaccine differ from past pandemics. When the Spanish flu broke out, there was limited technology and countermeasures. The US government lacked a centralized federal government to plan and come up with interventions to curb the spread. The issuing of aspirin to cure Spanish flu was ineffective and caused more deaths. In the wake of COVID-19, many word governments have managed to come up with measures to curb the spread and protect the public. Clinical trials for the COVID-19 vaccine are underway with Favipiraviur antiviral drugs showing some promising results. Clinicians are using chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine to treat adverse effects of COVID-19. Those in critical conditions are put under ventilators to alleviate symptoms (Guo et al., 2020).
However, a similar mistake of lack of preparedness and bad decisions are experienced today. COVID-19 caught the world unprepared hence the cause of rising cases of the virus across the globe. Despite having developed technology, the health care systems were not prepared to develop national pandemic plans as witnessed by cases of overwhelmed systems and delay to find a suitable vaccine. Another mistake experienced is delay by some countries to take adequate measures to curb the spread. Taking the case of Italy, they delayed implementing social distancing measures and closing the borders and social institutions; hence, the high deaths and infections ( Akhter, 2020) . Lastly, the problem of geopolitical wars and political inclinations, especially between the US and China, is delaying global collaboration to establish a suitable cure for COVID-19. World nations need to understand these problems and solve them to ensure an enhancement of the global health system and scientific research aimed at finding a cure before the virus gets out of control.
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