Coronavirus and travel
1918 flu pandemic. Just a reminder of what could happen Image from 1918 - looks familiar? The novel Wuhan coronavirus in China is all over the news and there appears to be quite a bit of panic around this virus. As a virologist/microbiologist who spends quite a bit of my time traveling around the world consulting on disease control in a post antibiotic era, I am particularly interested in this novel virus. I lecture to 3rd year microbiology students at a university and the subject which I lecture in is "Pathogens and immunity", so pretty much right up my alley! For the last few years, I have been discussing the likelihood of a major disease pandemic in the world with my class. My prediction has been that the next major pandemic (that is a world wide infection) would be caused by an Influenza virus, which has either developed in birds or pigs. I have a particular interest in the 1918 flu pandemic, as I believe that this virus was actually the reason that the first ...