In 1918, the Spanish flu killed four to five percent of the entire global population. Infectious disease experts all agree that another pandemic is coming. It's when, not if. But are we ready for it? Today's episode explores what happens when a pandemic strikes, what the most likely candidates are, and whether or not the world is ready.

Guests:

Ed Yong, science writer at The Atlantic

Nahid Bhadelia, assistant professor at Boston University School of Medicine and the Medical Director of Special Pathogens Unit (SPU) at Boston Medical Center

Laura Spinney, science writer and author of Pale Rider: The Spanish Flu of 1918 and How It Changed the World

Nicola Twilley, co-host of Gastropod and author of a forthcoming book on quarantine

Further Reading:

The Next Plague is Coming. Is America Ready?

Pale Rider: The Spanish Flu of 1918 and How It Changed the World

Yuuyaraq: The Way of the Human Being by Harold Napoleon

Strengthening Health Systems While Responding to a Health Crisis: Lessons Learned by a Nongovernmental Organization During the Ebola Virus Disease Epidemic in Sierra Leone

Medicine’s Long, Thin Supply Chain

What Bill Gates Fears Most

Predicting virus emergence amid evolutionary noise

Nebraska’s Biocontainment Unit

The Terrifying Lessons of a Pandemic Simulation

Clade X Livestream

CDC Director: Why I Don’t Support A Travel Ban To Combat The Ebola Outbreak

Protecting the Public's Health from Diseases, Disasters and Bioterrorism

How prepared is the world for the next epidemic? This tool shows most countries are not.

Flash Forward is produced by me, Rose Eveleth. The intro music is by Asura and the outtro music is by Hussalonia. The voices from the future this episode were provided by Paul Krueger, Sean Raines, and Sameer Ajmani. The episode art is by Matt Lubchansky.

Get in touch: Twitter, Facebook, [email protected]. 

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices