"The virus infected 500 million people worldwide and killed an estimated 20 million to 50 million victims"
"Somewhere in Europe, a mutated strain of the Spanish flu virus had emerged that had the power to kill a perfectly healthy young man or woman within 24 hours of showing the first signs of infection."
I knew this, but its still utterly terrifying to see it expressed so bluntly.
As the article says, rapid population movement was a key factor in its spread and mutation. We can't take the world back to a time when international travel was rare, so when we're done with the immediate effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, we (as a species) need to get better at rapid vaccine creation. Like an order of magnitude better. Otherwise the next one could be one that takes us down.
"Somewhere in Europe, a mutated strain of the Spanish flu virus had emerged that had the power to kill a perfectly healthy young man or woman within 24 hours of showing the first signs of infection."
I knew this, but its still utterly terrifying to see it expressed so bluntly.
As the article says, rapid population movement was a key factor in its spread and mutation. We can't take the world back to a time when international travel was rare, so when we're done with the immediate effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, we (as a species) need to get better at rapid vaccine creation. Like an order of magnitude better. Otherwise the next one could be one that takes us down.