David Quammen’s new book Spillover explores the frightening science of zoonotic diseases. Photo: Lynn Donaldson
What do HIV, Ebola and SARS have in common? For one, they have terrifying fatality rates. But more importantly, they are all zoonotic diseases, meaning they jumped from animals to humans.
We’ve been dealing with zoonoses since the dawn of humanity — think of our old friend rabies — but the threat seems to be getting worse. By pushing deeper into the wilderness, we put ourselves in the path of novel pathogens. And thanks to our worldwide network of roads and planes, any new disease can spread further and faster than ever before.
In his new book Spillover, science writer David Quammen tells the story of these frightening diseases through the eyes of the scientists who study them. The result is an adventure-filled page-turner about global biodiversity, told from the frontlines of pandemic prevention. In this episode of the Storyboard podcast, Quammen sits down with Wired senior editor Adam Rogers and resident rabies expert Bill Wasik to talk about the viruses we should be keeping an eye on, the potentially draconian future of public health, and how to stop the next global pandemic before it starts.
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