Victories and defeats: battles with pandemics caused by viruses during the last one hundred years

Abstract

The paper presents an overview of virus pandemics throughout the 20 th and the 21 st century and their main characteristics. Selected examples of applied health protection measures are described, as well as cultural, political, economic, and public health responses to pandemics. A rich heritage of preventive health protection specific for our territory, and its role in selecting protective health models during the coronavirus pandemic is emphasized.