25. SARS, Avian Inluenza, and Swine Flu: Lessons and Prospects

Epidemics in Western Society Since 1600 (HIST 234)

SARS, avian influenza and swine flu are the first new diseases of the twenty-first century. They are all diseases of globalization, or diseases of modernity, and while relatively limited in their impact, they have offered dress-rehearsals for future epidemics. As information about SARS spread internationally in 2002, in spite of China's campaign of silence, the global response had a curiously twofold character: on one hand, the mobilization of biologists and epidemiologists across national frontiers was rapid and unprecedented, while on the other hand, public health strategies on the ground were largely familiar from previous eras. If the spread of information and collaboration on international health regulations have been two positive aspects of public health response in the first decade of this century, more worrying questions have been raised concerning the production and distribution of drugs and the capacity of for-profit healthcare systems to cope with a major epidemic.

00:00 - Chapter 1. New Diseases of the Twenty-First Century
02:58 - Chapter 2. SARS
08:32 - Chapter 3. Symptoms, Epidemiology, and Effects on Society of SARS
26:04 - Chapter 4. Avian Flu
29:34 - Chapter 5. Swine Flu
34:38 - Chapter 6. Lessons

Complete course materials are available at the Open Yale Courses website: http://open.yale.edu/courses

This course was recorded in Spring 2010.