COVID-19 and H1N1 – The two pandemics and their consequences on human life: A Mini- Review Muhammad Ali Fayyaz, Iqra Amjad, Amrat Ayaz Ali 1 2 3 Background: A global pandemic has always been the after-effect of lessened immunity in the human population. This is a brief narrative review comparing some points of both pandemics. Methods: A comparative study was conducted by data collection through published articles and official websites. Conclusion: The current pandemic has affected all aspects of life. Psychological issues are dominating in this COVID-19 pandemic especially in six different groups of people. Emergency responses process was slower in COVID-19 pandemic than that of H1N1. H1N1 pandemic of 2009 proved to have a lesser impact on education, traveling, even the mental state of people. COVID-19 and H1N1 infections have most of the similar things but distinctions are very subordinating. Keywords: COVID-19, H1N1, Pandemics, Quarantine, Swine flu. INTRODUCTION When the immunity of the population is not capable of combating the virulent and the mutant strains of viruses, it has the potential to turn into a global pandemic.[1,2] We may not know for years, the repercussions of this pandemic but the available statistics tell a different tale. COVID-19 has been unpredictable, has defied the norms and most countries have been unable to eradicate this disease. With current infection of over 38 million and mortality of over a million, COVID-19 is the pandemic that may change the world as we know it today.[1,2,3,4] But there was another pandemic, one that claimed nearly 50 million lives in 1918 and re-infected the world in 2009.[1,5,6] We may have learned a lot till now, but there is always a time to revisit the basics, to have a look into history. Current study is a brief narrative review offering insights into some aspects of the H1N1 pandemics and COVD-19 pandemic. METHODOLOGY A detailed search, that included but was not limited to, published scientific literature platforms (Google Review Article Scholar, NLM catalog), official government websites, World Health Organization (WHO) reports, Centre for disease control (CDC) reports was conducted utilizing boolean logic. The following keywords were utilized; "Coronavirus", "COVID-19", "Influenza Virus", "Swine flu", "spanish flu", "Influenza Virus". Literature was searched to investigate the similarities and differences among the 2 pandemics. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION COVID-19 and H1N1 had similar mode of transmission and affected respiratory tract primarily due to droplet infection. Person to person transmission was the chief source of spread of the viruses.[1,2] Both had zoonotic origins. The clinical features of fever and upper respiratory tract infections were common in both the pandemics. [1,2] Respiratory distress syndrome was leading cause of Aug - Oct 2020 | Vol 1 No 3 | e186 | I Pakistan Journal of Surgery & Medicine Student, 5th year MBBS, Quaid e Azam Medical College Bahawalpur, Pakistan. Islamia University Bahawalpur, Pakistan Liaquat University of Medical and Health Sciences, Jamshoro, Pakistan. 1. 2. 3. CORRESPONDING AUTHOR © Author(s) (or their employer(s) 2020. Re-use permitted under CC BY. No commercial re-use. Published by Pak J Surg Med. Submission: May 03, 2020 Acceptance: Oct 14 , 2020 Publication: Oct 15, 2020 Muhammad Ali Fayyaz, Student 5th yr MBBS, Quaid e Azam Medical College, Bahawalpur, Pakistan. Author Email: mafayyazbonamana1@gmail.c om ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001- 9840-5417 doi: 10.37978/pjsm.v1i3.186 fatalities in both pandemics. The cardinal clinical features are same in both the pandemics[Table 1]. The commonly reported life threatening complications included pneumonia, acute respiratory distress syndrome, respiratory failure, in case of COVID-19 and H1N1 pandemic.[1-6] We found out a few differences among the two pandemics that need to be elaborated. There was a delay in reporting of index case in COVID 19. In 2009, the hospital administration reported a patient infected with the H1N1 virus of swine flu within 15 days, whereas the COVID 19 index case was reported after 23 days.[4,7] The index case’s reporting response was eight days ABSTRACT