http://www.davidquammen.com/spillover
In Spillover, David Quammen takes on “the next big human pandemic,” which could very well be a “spillover” disease originating in animals, eventually infecting human hosts. The characteristics of this next new plague could resemble Ebola, SARS, bird flu, Lyme disease or any one of a number of zoonotic plagues, diseases that transfer from animal host to human.
The story begins, harmlessly enough, in a Brisbane, Australia stable in 1994 where a pregnant bay mare that “just didn’t look good” was moved to her own box stall so her trainer could keep an eye on her. Within a day, the mare was dead.
Soon the disease spread to other horses, and to the trainer–who died after a week in intensive care. By the end, many horses and several humans were dead. Finally the outbreak petered out, but not before researchers found a new virus, related to rinderpest, canine distemper and measles. They called it equine morbillivirus (EMV) or “Hendra,” after the neighborhood where it originated.
Where do these zoonotic viruses originate, and where do they hide during periods of quiescence? Quammen explores these and other mysteries, tracking the origins and travels of a number of such plagues.
For more about David Quammen and his works, check out:
