The Origins of Infectious Disease

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the origins of infectious disease. Infectious disease has been with us for millennia. There are reports of ancient outbreaks of plague in the Bible, and in numerous historical sources from China, the Middle East and Europe. Other infections, including smallpox, tuberculosis and measles, have also been known for centuries. But some diseases made their first appearances only recently: HIV emerged around a century ago, while the Ebola virus was first recorded in the 1970s.But where do the agents of disease come from, and what determines where and when new viruses and bacteria appear? Modern techniques allow scientists to trace the histories of infective agents through their genomes; the story of disease provides a fascinating microcosm of the machinery of evolution.

→ Play on BBC Sounds website

Guests

• Steve Jones 22 episodes
  Professor of Genetics at University College London
• Sir Roy Anderson No other episodes
  Professor of Infectious Disease Epidemiology at Imperial College London
• Mark Pallen No other episodes
  Professor of Microbial Genomics at the University of Birmingham

Related episodes

• Man and Disease
  
  12 Dec, 2002 610 Medicine and health
• Microbiology
  
  8 Mar, 2007 570 Biology
• The Plague of Justinian
  
  21 Jan, 2021 940 History of Europe
• Human Evolution
  
  16 Feb, 2006 560 Fossils and prehistoric life
• The Black Death
  
  22 May, 2008 940 History of Europe
• Immunisation
  
  20 Apr, 2006 610 Medicine and health
• Penicillin
  
  9 Jun, 2016 610 Medicine and health
• Parasitism
  
  26 Jan, 2017 590 Animals (Zoology)
• The Cell
  
  13 Sep, 2012 570 Biology
• Human Origins
  
  27 Apr, 2000 560 Fossils and prehistoric life
• The Origins of Life
  
  23 Sep, 2004 570 Biology
• Genetic Engineering
  
  14 Jan, 1999 570 Biology
• The Microscope
  
  28 Nov, 2013 500 Science
• Genetic Determinism
  
  23 Sep, 1999 570 Biology
• Louis Pasteur
  
  18 May, 2017 610 Medicine and health
• Blood
  
  22 May, 2003 610 Medicine and health
• The Scientist
  
  24 Oct, 2002 500 Science
• Intelligence
  
  1 Jul, 1999 150 Psychology
• Sources of Early Chinese History
  
  23 Jan, 2014 950 History of Asia
• The Iron Age
  
  24 Mar, 2011 930 History of the Ancient World

---

Programme ID: b011pldm

Episode page: bbc.co.uk/programmes/b011pldm

Auto-category: 570 (Biology)