Contagion
The most significant pandemic of the last century was an especially virulent strain of influenza that came to be known as the Spanish Flu. Between 1918 and 1920, over 50 million people died in this pandemic—three percent of the world's population at the time. Experts believe the virus spread so effectively in part due to the close quarters shared by military units in the First World War.
In the modern world, we live and work in close quarters—on airplanes, in movie theaters, on the subway—and the potential for a worldwide pandemic to spread is very real.
Emerging diseases of non-human origin, known as zoonotics, have the greatest potential to spread through the human population, as we have no previous antibodies to defend against them.
Preparation
Pandemics will happen, but we aren’t helpless. You can do your part to be prepared:
