The Next Pandemic

On the Front Lines Against Humankind's Gravest Dangers

By: Ali S Khan, William Patrick

Narrated by: Ben Sullivan

An inside account of the fight to contain the world's deadliest diseases -- and the panic and corruption that make them worse.
Throughout history, humankind's biggest killers have been infectious diseases: the Black Death, the Spanish Flu, and AIDS alone account for over one hundred million deaths. We ignore this reality most of the time, but when a new threat -- Ebola, SARS, Zika, coronavirus -- seems imminent, we send our best and bravest doctors to contain it. People like Dr. Ali S. Khan.
In his long career as a public health first responder -- protected by a thin mask from infected patients, napping under nets to keep out scorpions, making life-and-death decisions on limited, suspect information -- Khan has found that rogue microbes will always be a problem, but outbreaks are often caused by people. We make mistakes, politicize emergencies, and, too often, fail to imagine the consequences of our actions.
The Next Pandemic is a firsthand account of disasters like anthrax, bird flu, and others -- and how we could do more to prevent their return. It is both a gripping story of our brushes with fate and an urgent lesson on how we can keep ourselves safe from the inevitable next pandemic.

Critic reviews

"Skillfully chronicles the engrossing investigative work spawned by recent pathenogenic outbreaks....Well-written....Remarkable."—Publishers Weekly

"Hantavirus. Ebola. Avian flu. Monkeypox. Anthrax. Bioterror. Bubonic plague. West Nile virus. Rift Valley fever. SARS. Hurricane Katrina. Guinea worm. All over the USA, Africa, Asia, Latin America. Zoonoses from ticks, rodents, mosquitoes, bats, apes, camels. Poverty, inequity, prejudice, politics, war, mayhem, panic, prevention. Ali Khan's extraordinary achievements in public health have involved them all, and now readers can share the inside story of his global adventures involving what Khan calls the 'endless dance between microbes and humans.'"—Mark Pendergrast, author, Inside the Outbreaks

"Khan excels at writing for general readers. Not only does he describe the effects of specific diseases and how he investigates an outbreak and creates a plan to stop it, but he also creates vivid pictures of the setting, the people, and often the politics involved in diagnosis and treatment.... The details are sometimes disturbing, but Khan writes with verve, clarity, and a touch of humor."—Kirkus Reviews

Good Info but...

The author hates law enforcement and is a super liberal Democrat. His one sided political diatribes were a turnoff for me. When he presented facts and kept politics out of the story, I really enjoyed it.

Timely, informative, understandable.

I heard about this book on NPR and thought it could shed some light on the efforts in our current situation. It did not disappoint. It doesn't get too into the weeds that it's inaccessible to a lay person like me. Dr. Khan's worrying is simple, to the point and did I mention informative?

Too much politics made the book more of a lecture

I read this book while under lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic. It gave me a lot of knowledge that I did not have before and also scared the “you know what” out of me.

The Anthrax and SARS chapters were very good. The Anthrax attack would be a great movie. I give it 3 stars based on those chapters alone.

The politics of the author is very prevalent in the book and at times I felt like it was more of a lecture than information. It was a turn off but I ignored the obvious bias and payed attention to the stories.

Excellent info

Good informative stories
Ghost written & it really shows
Narrator mispronounced. a bit & was a bit robotic .

Assuming someone is racist is just as bad as being racist

Started of good then took a turn for the worst. Ranted about how the FBI detainee him because he was brown after admitting he was placed on the no fly list. When you assume someone is racist without facts it’s just as bad if not worse than being racist.