ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses the four viral pandemics that have occurred since 1999: West Nile Virus (WNV), Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), Zika, and Ebola, exploring the biologic characteristics of the causative virus and the global factors that allowed each outbreak to become an explosive pandemic. In the process, the historic narrative of the virus and the disease are outlined and the factors – viral and environmental – that impacted the emergence of the pandemic are explored. In each case, unique characteristics of the viral pathogens which led to the progression of a local disease outbreak into a global pandemic are revealed. The analyses in this chapter highlight important themes in contemporary viral pandemic development: the critical roles of ongoing viral evolution; the importance of emerging viruses that cross over from other species to infect humans; the high importance of global travel in disease introduction to new, naïve populations; the speed of disease spread in our crowded, increasingly connected world; and the importance of global scientific communication and collaboration. Critical evaluation of these four outbreaks reveals factors that could potentially be applied to interrupt future disease outbreaks.
