COVID-19 is a zoonotic disease, meaning that it began in animals before spreading to humans. Other examples of zoonotic diseases are rabies, Lyme disease, and West Nile virus.

Bacteria can stay alive while trapped in ice for hundreds of thousands of years. As glaciers melt due to global warming, ancient viruses and bacteria that have never been seen before are being released.

Acupuncture, the practice of inserting a metal needle into the skin, began in China about 2,500 years ago. Thousands of years later, it is still used for pain relief and to treat muscle soreness.

In 1864, Dr. Rebecca Lee Crumpler became the first African-American woman to earn a degree in medicine. After the Civil War, she moved to Virginia to provide medical care for formerly enslaved people.

Hospitals during the Islamic Golden Age, called bimaristans, were revolutionary for the time. They provided free treatment and were open to all people, regardless of their background or illness.

Water fountains across the U.S. used to have a communal metal cup attached to them for drinking. These “community cups” were banned in the early 1900s when people realized that they helped disease to spread more easily.

Surgery may seem like a modern invention, but this is not the case. An ancient Indian text called Sushruta Samhita describes how to perform eye surgery. It was written over 2,000 years ago!

In the 19th century, a popular treatment for all kinds of diseases was attaching leeches to a patient’s body! This practice, called bloodletting, created a “leech craze” across Europe and North America.

When Jonas Salk created a vaccine for polio in the 1950s, many people were skeptical. To make sure it was safe, nearly two million young children, called “The Polio Pioneers,” were given the vaccine first as a trial.