The world may be in the earliest scenes of a disaster movie. Avian influenza, better known as bird flu, is inflicting major economic damage to poultry farmers around the world, and is just a handful of genetic mutations away from turning into what could be the largest, deadliest pandemic that our planet has ever seen.

We asked award-winning journalist and writer Simon Parkin to investigate the past, present and future of this underestimated threat to humanity, speaking to epidemiologists doing cutting-edge research, farmers on the front line, and politicians battling budget cuts. We published his findings as a five-part episodic series, alongside a handful of extra material to supplement the narrative. Join us on the journey today.

Episodes

Here’s the story. From the outbreak in Hong Kong in 1997, back through the history of avian influenza, to the ways the virus spreads and mutates, and then finally how we’re tackling it on a global scale. A new episode will be published every two weeks.

The outbreak in Hong Kong, 1997.

How avian flu shaped the Great War.

The return of avian influenza.

How a virus becomes a threat.

Our next global pandemic.

Extras

We’re also putting together a collection of explainers, data visualisations, glossaries, timelines, maps and a reading list to broaden your understanding of the topic. Check back as we add more throughout the series.

A bit of background on who, what, where, when and why.

Get up to speed fast on the debate around how we respond to emerging infectious diseases.

How animal diseases become human diseases.

How technology is joining the fight against one of the world’s most efficient vectors of disease.

We’re Five Mutations From a Major Pandemic

What you wanted to know.

Fowl Plague is a How We Get To Next and Storythings production. It was written by Simon Parkin and edited and produced by Duncan Geere. All art, unless otherwise credited, is by Darren Garrett.

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