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What’s the best way to tackle coronavirus myths and misinformation if they come up in everyday conversation?
Paul Hanaoka/Unsplash
Poor communication and misinformation is yet another way an epidemic can cause harm. So it’s important health authorities get their messaging right.
Flight attendants check temperatures of passengers aboard an Air China flight from Melbourne to Beijing on Feb. 4, 2020.
AP Photo/Andy Wong
The World Health Organization has said the coronavirus is not yet a pandemic. That raises a question: just what is a pandemic? An expert explains.
Colorized scanning electron micrograph of filamentous Ebola virus particles (blue) budding from an infected cell (yellow-green).
NIAID
The Trump administration has cut funding for infectious disease research and reduced high-level staffing for global health security, leaving the nation less prepared for major outbreaks.
Wuhan University Sakura Castle, one of the oldest in China with the city in the backdrop. December 2018.
Howchou/Wikimedia
The strong crisis management in Wuhan will probe the capacity of the Chinese government to prepare adequately for pandemic and may test Xi’s rule.
Woman walks past the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market.
STR/EPA
Exotic and sensational depictions of Chinese “wet markets” may prevent a proper and efficient understanding of how viral diseases emerge.
Body temperature being checked at the exit of a railway station in Fuyang, Anhui province, China, January 29 2020.
AN Ming/EPA
China’s strategy to contain the coronavirus just might work because of the way cities and infrastructure have been developed.
The Wuhan Jinyintan hospital is bearing the brunt. Based on what we know so far, the economic impact will be limited.
STR/EPA
The 1918 Spanish Flu, the 1957-1958 Asian Flu and the 2001-2002 SARS pandemic give us a frame of reference.
Masks are selling out in Singapore amid concerns about the Wuhan virus.
Ng Sor Luan/EPA
The World Health Organization decided that the coronavirus outbreak in China is not a public health emergency of international concern. At least, not at the moment.
STR/EPA
Wildlife trade is a threat to human health.
Little yellow-shouldered bat.
Ilan Ejzykowicz/Shutterstock
Scientists identify the risk of bat flu spreading to humans.
Young boy receiving polio vaccine.
Asianet-Pakistan/Shutterstock
A bit of humility can go a long way.
Women were at the forefront of managing the influenza pandemic.
AUSTRALIAN WAR MEMORIAL
We commemorate the centenary of the end of WW1, but victims of a more deadly threat are rarely remembered. Let’s change that.
Pearing back.
13Smile
Recent findings say that sitting around is a ‘first world’ problem. In reality, it’s a bit more complicated than that.
Hinochika/Shutterstock.com
In the event of pandemic flu, poor countries will suffer the most.
Policemen wearing masks provided by the American Red Cross in Seattle, 1918.
Wikimedia Commons
For nearly 50 years academic and popular writers ignored the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic. A hundred years later, historians can’t get enough of it.
A poster from a world summit in Hong Kong on preparing for worldwide pandemics in June 2010. Despite efforts to develop plans, none is yet in place.
Vincent Yu/AP Photo
It’s not a matter of if, but when, the next deadly pandemic will strike. Will the world be ready?
Bejing. Bird flu is transmitted in various ways and the process needs to be studied in depth.
Sojourner in a Strange Land/Flicker
A scientific question fascinates experts : under which conditions can bird flu virus be transmitted to humans by aerial particles, and what will be the consequences for those who aren’t immune?
The term “epidemic” is now being used for more than infectious diseases. So what does it actually mean?
AAPONE/Ahmed Jallanzo/
The obesity epidemic, the flu epidemic, the opioid epidemic… in the 21st century, everything seems to be an “epidemic”. But what does the term actually mean?
People and animals live side by side – and can have pathogens in common.
Nichola Hill
No one then knew a virus caused the 1918 flu pandemic, much less that animals can be a reservoir for human illnesses. Now virus ecology research and surveillance are key for public health efforts.