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
692692 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
In Our Time
5,389 Listeners
From Our Own Correspondent
381 Listeners
The Documentary Podcast
1,839 Listeners
Global News Podcast
7,894 Listeners
Thinking Allowed
308 Listeners
Business Daily
538 Listeners
More or Less: Behind the Stats
898 Listeners
World Business Report
285 Listeners
Witness History
962 Listeners
Newshour
1,080 Listeners
The Life Scientific
248 Listeners
The Interview
362 Listeners
The Audio Long Read
827 Listeners
The History Hour
589 Listeners
BBC Inside Science
401 Listeners
The Briefing Room
74 Listeners
CrowdScience
480 Listeners
People Fixing the World
244 Listeners
Newscast
673 Listeners
Evil Genius with Russell Kane
376 Listeners
Today in Focus
997 Listeners
You're Dead to Me
2,964 Listeners
Sport's Strangest Crimes
70 Listeners
Uncanny
752 Listeners
Dua Lipa: At Your Service
1,005 Listeners
Lady Killers with Lucy Worsley
539 Listeners
Believe in Magic
604 Listeners
The Explanation
28 Listeners
The Global Story
169 Listeners
Miss Me?
276 Listeners
The History Podcast
26 Listeners
Havana Helmet Club
1 Listeners