The Russian Flu Pandemic (hereafter designated as "RFP") of 1889-1890 may have actually been the first human coronavirus pandemic.

A tale of viral promiscuity ensues. (1/n)

The 1889-1890 RFP demonstrated a unique pattern, whereby sick patients & recovered patients were demonstrating more nervous system impacts than typical influenza outbreaks. Post-viral fatigue was also alarmingly profound by all counts, in ways eerily similar to #longcovid. (2/n)

Interestingly enough, a human-specific coronavirus, HCoV-OC43 was estimated via molecular dating to have emerged around 1890 (temporally coincident with RFP), evolving from a common ancestor with the bovine coronavirus, BCoV. (3/n)

More interesting yet, is that there had been a highly infectious disease spreading through cattle herds globally between 1870-1890 that resembled a coronavirus-related respiratory disease. Massive culling operations eliminated the infected cattle, but also exposed humans to (4/n)

the respiratory secretions of these infected cattle. If these secretions contained bovine coronavirus (BCoV), as molecular dating would suggest 2 be possible, then it's imaginable that this culling event facilitated a BCoV cross-species jump 2 humans, instigating RFP. (5/n)

The clinical presentation & symptomatology of RFP indeed closely resembles that of the current #COVID19 pandemic, more than it did previous flu outbreaks. The intense central nervous system impacts & debilitating post-viral syndrome ( #longcovid) are, again, eerily similar. (6/n)

What's interesting to note, then, is that the RFP did not merely last a simple two years. Recurrences continued for 6 long years, from 1889-1895. Many prominent figures were infected over the years, and many have written of their debilitating post-viral syndromes. (7/n)

There are many differences between this current pandemic and the RFP. One such difference is that, in the year 2020, we were able to produce a cutting-edge vaccine. This is something that the world would have only been able to pray for in 1889. (8/n)

If we ignore #COVID19 & modern science, we would resign ourselves to the fate of this pandemic likely lasting well beyond just 2021. Vaccines, information dissemination, and more; these are our means to a different end than the events of the late 19th century. (9/n)

Those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it. We have a model to learn from, and we should not ignore it. (10/10)