Epidemics change the course of nations and transform societies. Here are four lessons from history -Dinyar Patel

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The past is no recipe for the future – but it can suggest what to expect.

Epidemics, much like wars or natural disasters, profoundly influence the course of history. Consider a few examples. Smallpox, malaria, and influenza decimated indigenous Americans after European contact in the 16th century, paving the way for western colonisation of the New World. Yellow fever helped turn the tide of the Haitian Revolution at the beginning of the 19th century. Over a hundred years later, Spanish flu became a deadly combatant in the trenches of World War I. Some scholars credit the HIV/AIDS crisis of the 1980s with pushing the gay rights movement into the political mainstream.

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