© 2024
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
An update has been released for the Android version of the WAMC App that addresses performance issues. Please check the Google Play Store to download and update to the latest version.

Animal Infections And The Next Human Pandemic

Book cover for "Spillover" by David Quammen

The emergence of strange new diseases is a frightening problem that seems to be getting worse. In this age of speedy travel, it threatens a worldwide pandemic. Coronavirus is here and before it we heard about Ebola, SARS, AIDS, and something called Hendra killing horses and people in Australia?but those reports miss the big truth that such phenomena are part of a single pattern.

The bugs that transmit these diseases share one thing: they originate in wild animals and pass to humans by a process called spillover. In his new book, "Spillover: Animal Infections and the Next Human Pandemic, Science" journalist David Quammen tracks this subject around the world. He recounts adventures in the field?netting bats in China, trapping monkeys in Bangladesh, stalking gorillas in the Congo?with the world’s leading disease scientists.

Joe talks to people on the radio for a living. In addition to countless impressive human "gets" - he has talked to a lot of Muppets. Joe grew up in Philadelphia, has been on the area airwaves for more than 25 years and currently lives in Washington County, NY with his wife, Kelly, and their dog, Brady. And yes, he reads every single book.