[The Conversation Africa] On March 11, 2024, it will be four years since the World Health Organization characterized the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak as a pandemic. And while COVID-19 continues to impact people globally, it is only the most recent in a long history of pandemics with likely origins in animals. Examples include plague, which usually spreads from rodents to humans via infected fleas, and the 2009 H1N1 flu, also known as swine flu due to its origins in pigs.
