In this text, which has been widely read during the COVID-19 pandemic, Michael T. Osterholm analyses the threat of a pandemic, and what it means for humanity. In his introduction, Osterholm introduces infectious diseases as our "deadliest enemy." He explains that although we obviously have battles with particular diseases such as cancer and heart attacks, pandemics are particularly dangerous as they have the potential to impact humanity on a mass scale. He explains that unlike pandemics, normal diseases "don't really have the potential to alter the day-to-day functioning of society, halt travel, trade, and industry, or foster political instability."
Osterholm explains his experience with pandemics, emphasizing that learning from the past is essential when dealing with infectious diseases. Throughout the text, Osterholm discusses the work of public health epidemiologists, and the questions they must answer about infectious diseases. He offers case studies of some well-known infectious diseases such as SARS, MERS and Zika Virus, and concludes what we can learn from these cases about future pandemics. He also writes about the processes of making a vaccine, and how difficult this is, and how infectious diseases are usually transmitted. When discussing each aspect, Osterholm maintains a focus on the future and the possible ways we could successfully deal with a pandemic, having learned from the past and prepared properly.
