ABSTRACT
Preparations to confront pandemic threat are an explicit concern of the World Health Organization (WHO). The 2007 World Health Report, entitled A Safer Future: Global Public Health Security in the 21st Century, begins with a description of immediate prospects of infectious disease transmission through global commercial networks. It states that ‘infectious diseases are now spreading geographically much faster than at any time in history’ (p6). This chapter is part of a broader comparative social scientific and historical study of influenza, one that might well be understood as a by-product of anxieties about the swiftness of disease transmission and the threat of emerging and pandemic disease. To what extent can historical analyses help to develop preparedness for these health threats? Are there any lessons to be learned to lessen the impact of future outbreaks?
