Business Continuity and the Pandemic Threat - Learning from COVID-19 while preparing for the next pandemic

CHAPTER 2: WHAT EXACTLY IS A PANDEMIC?

Historically, pandemics can be traced back many centuries. A simple definition that has been used to describe them is “a contagion that has gone global”. Although a pandemic can also affect the animal and bird populations, this book focuses on the human-to-human spread of potentially fatal contagions.

The WHO tells us that this worldwide spread of a novel disease will initially have no vaccines or known cures available, and neither will people have any immunity. Generally, the most common cause of pandemics has been influenza, although in the past 75 years, almost 400 new infectious diseases have been discovered. Since 1971, scientists have identified 25 new pathogens for which we have no vaccines and no ...