The next new virus

A new flu, H7N9, has killed 36 people since it was first found in China two months ago. A new virus from the SARS family has killed 22 people since it was found on the Arabian Peninsula last summer. In past years, this might have been occasion for panic. Yet chicken and pork sales have not plummeted, as they did during earlier flus. Is this relatively calm response in order? Or does the simultaneous emergence of two new diseases suggest something more dire? Actually, experts say, the answer to both questions may well be yes. “Compared to H5N1 and SARS, we’re getting on top of these diseases much, much faster,” said Dr William B Karesh, a wildlife veterinarian and chief of health policy for the EcoHealth Alliance, which tracks animal-human outbreaks. But he added that “people have become desensitised over time—it’s ‘Oh, OK, another one’.” And, scientists say, the world cannot afford to...