COVID-19 and previous pandemics have shown how diseases can disrupt, threaten, and transform daily life. Since pathogens and societies are continuously evolving, every pandemic is different. However, certain fundamental principles of disease transmission appear to hold true across different outbreaks. These “mechanisms” are grounded in natural laws or the very structure of our biology and societies.

This paper compiles ten fundamental mechanisms, curated by a multidisciplinary team with backgrounds spanning public health, medicine, epidemiology, political science, mathematics, physics, and psychology. These mechanisms, although perhaps underappreciated, substantially shape how pandemics unfold and are controlled.

The better we succeed in understanding these mechanisms and establishing this knowledge in our societies, the better we will be able to prepare for future pandemics and respond appropriately when they occur.

S. Contreras, P. Dönges, L. Müller, P. Mallick, S. Paltra, U. Hvid, R.J. Kettlitz, A. Reitenbach, R.A. Lind, M. Aguiar, P. Bechtle, A.C. Valdez, R. Gronemeyer, M. Harries, V.K. Jaeger, A. Karch, C.J. Klett-Tammen, P. Klimek, M.E. Kretzschmar, K. Nagel, B.F. Nielsen, B. Prainsack, I.M. Radhuber, L. Simonsen, K. Sneppen, J. Suer, V. Priesemann, Mechanics of pandemics, EClinicalMedicine 98 (2026) 104101.