The Next Epidemic — How Society Aids Disease Are we at greater
risk now from massive disease outbreaks? It’s a vital question
after a wave of deadly E. coli infections in Germany has put
hundreds in the hospital and killed more than 20. Disease
ecologist Sadie Ryan explains how societal changes are aiding
the bugs. One reason that E. coli kills so many — in the
industrialized world as well as less-developed areas — is that
the bacteria is found across mammals and birds. If livestock are
infected by a lethal strain of E. coli, it only takes one round
of undercooked meat for the infection to spread like wildfire to
people. In fact, the vast majority of human infectious diseases
can infect animals as well. And the last few decades have seen
the rise of a large number of new virulent diseases — SARS,
AIDS, Marburg virus, to name a few — that have animal origins.
Why are so many of these animal-origin diseases popping up now?
On this week’s Curiouser & Curiouser podcast, Dr. Sadie Ryan
discusses the future of huma