Sign up to save your podcasts
Or
Share Will a pandemic ever kill millions again?
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Or
Will a pandemic ever kill millions again?
The Coronavirus outbreak in China has been declared a public health emergency of international concern. It is raising fears of a global disease pandemic.
In the past viral infections have killed millions. Possibly the worst ever pandemic was the 1918-19 flu, which spread just as the First World War was coming to an end. Estimates of the death toll now range between 50 and 100 million. At the upper range that means it was more deadly than both World Wars put together. So could another pandemic emerge today and kill millions? How might it happen and how prepared are we to confront it?
The world is a very different place to 100 years ago. Scientific and public health advances do mean some parts of the world are more prepared but our ways of living could make us more susceptible to a new virus.
Speaking to a leading virologist, a disease modeller, a public health policy expert and a senior African health official, Ben Chu asks where the virus threat might come from, how fast it could spread, what containment policies work and whether the world is ready.
Presenter: Ben Chu
Producer: John Murphy
(image: Scientist working with a dangerous virus in the laboratory. Credit: Getty Creative)
View all episodes
By BBC World Service
4.6
695695 ratings
The Coronavirus outbreak in China has been declared a public health emergency of international concern. It is raising fears of a global disease pandemic.
In the past viral infections have killed millions. Possibly the worst ever pandemic was the 1918-19 flu, which spread just as the First World War was coming to an end. Estimates of the death toll now range between 50 and 100 million. At the upper range that means it was more deadly than both World Wars put together. So could another pandemic emerge today and kill millions? How might it happen and how prepared are we to confront it?
The world is a very different place to 100 years ago. Scientific and public health advances do mean some parts of the world are more prepared but our ways of living could make us more susceptible to a new virus.
Speaking to a leading virologist, a disease modeller, a public health policy expert and a senior African health official, Ben Chu asks where the virus threat might come from, how fast it could spread, what containment policies work and whether the world is ready.
Presenter: Ben Chu
Producer: John Murphy
(image: Scientist working with a dangerous virus in the laboratory. Credit: Getty Creative)
More shows like The Inquiry
View all
Global News Podcast
7,639 Listeners
From Our Own Correspondent
375 Listeners
Business Daily
519 Listeners
More or Less
876 Listeners
Newshour
1,046 Listeners
World Business Report
293 Listeners
In Our Time
5,520 Listeners
The Documentary Podcast
1,799 Listeners
Witness History
964 Listeners
The History Hour
584 Listeners
Friday Night Comedy from BBC Radio 4
2,110 Listeners
The Interview
358 Listeners
Discovery
965 Listeners
BBC Inside Science
407 Listeners
Science Weekly
410 Listeners
The Life Scientific
217 Listeners
The Audio Long Read
849 Listeners
Unexpected Elements
366 Listeners
The Briefing Room
58 Listeners
CrowdScience
476 Listeners
People Fixing The World
238 Listeners
Evil Genius with Russell Kane
360 Listeners
Have You Heard George's Podcast?
233 Listeners
Elis James and John Robins
307 Listeners
You're Dead to Me
3,177 Listeners
Sport's Strangest Crimes
65 Listeners
Uncanny
814 Listeners
Lady Killers with Lucy Worsley
555 Listeners
Believe in Magic
643 Listeners
The Global Story
386 Listeners
Miss Me?
239 Listeners
The History Podcast
56 Listeners
Rory Stewart: The Long History of...
75 Listeners
The History Bureau
74 Listeners