An audacious search for answers amid more than a century of data, The Chimp and the River tells the haunting tale of one of the most devastating pandemics of our time.
Air travel means that modern societies are more vulnerable to pandemics than before, because it has made the world so small.
Curiously, heightened risk and fears of further disruptions – not just another financial crisis, but also geopolitical instability and pandemics – do not seem to carry much weight in current policy discussions, though the idea has been around.
David Crane in the Spectator, too, thought striking the notion that the 20th century, which wiped out "perhaps 50 million to 100 million in two world wars", not to mention the gulag, "the Cultural revolution, civil wars, government-orchestrated-famine,… trench-stewed pandemics and any number of genocides", was, "in fact, the safest there has ever been".
Even rich countries will have to wait for their orders to be filled.While antivirals may have a role as a form of treatment in the countries that can afford them, preventative vaccines are widely regarded as the most useful intervention for dealing with flu pandemics.
Past pandemics, in less globally connected eras, have taken six to nine months to complete their global passage.
During pandemics, there are large surges in the number of people needing medical treatment, and health services quickly become overwhelmed.
Before the crisis they were looking at things like pandemics, cyber-security and terrorism as possible causes of black swans.
Countries that have disclosed orders for Tamiflu include Britain, the Czech Republic, Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea and Thailand.The World Health Organisation (WHO), which has been trying for years to attract attention to the threat posed by influenza pandemics, has called on governments to update their pandemic plans to minimise the health consequences.
Millions are now logging on to contribute information about topics stretching from avian-flu pandemics to the extraction of wisdom teeth or the use of acupuncture to overcome infertility.
So the car, the plane, the bicycle, the voice-only telephone, the espresso machine and, luckily, the wall-to-wall bookshelf will still be with us.The world will face severe biological and electronic pandemics, another gift from globalisation.Religious practice will experience a revival, seen as a conveyor of robust heuristics, cultural values and rituals.
