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Epidemics are characterized by their contingency, calling for patience (from patere, to suffer) and a grasp of the long-term dynamics of human history. The unpredictability and specific nature of each crisis (its contingency) explain the difficulties involved in managing it. And yet, since prehistoric times, economic exchanges have continued to expand, to the point of becoming globalized. Disseminating and solving the virus through research requires increasingly complex methodologies.