The Epidemics That Didn't Happen

In 10,000 BCE, a deadly new virus emerged in Northeast Africa, killing indiscriminately and causing a disease we now know as smallpox. Due to global migration, smallpox arrived in China by the 4th century CE, and in Europe in the 7th century,1 and continued to kill millions of people until a coordinated global effort eradicated the disease in 1977.2 The speed at which viruses can travel the globe and cause human and economic devastation has increased steadily since we first experienced smallpox, as COVID-19 and other diseases have tragically demonstrated.