Viruses, plagues, and history: past, present, and future

Author's note: Covid-19

Part one: Viruses, plagues, and history. A general introduction

Introduction to the principles of virology

Introduction to the principles of immunology

Part two: Success stories. Smallpox: the geopolitical impact of smallpox

Yellow fever

Measles virus

Poliomyelitis

Hepatitis viruses: oysters, blood transfusions, and cancer

Part three: Present and future challenges. An overview of newly emerging viral plagues: the hemorrhagic fevers and a newly mysterious suspect of viral disease, acute flaccid paralysis

Lassa fever

Ebola

Hantavirus

Severe acute respiratory syndrome, the first pandemic of the twenty-first century; Middle east respiratory syndrome; and the 2019-2020 outbreak of 2019-nCoV

West Nile virus: deaths of crows and humans

Zika comes to the western hemisphere and Americas: how, when, consequences

Human immunodeficiency virus: AIDS, the current plague

Mad cow disease and Englishmen: dementia of humans- prions: folding protein transmissible diseases

Influenza virus, the plague that will continue to return

Apathy and ignorance: false prophets of autism and the anti-vaccine movement

Conclusions and future predictions.