It has long been believed that David Quammen, a science writer, foresaw the Covid-19 breakout seven years before the global pandemic struck.
His book, Spillover: Animal Infections and the Next Human Pandemic, was published in 2012 after he conducted interviews with prominent experts in epidemiology and virology.
He cautioned that a coronavirus that was spilled from a wild animal in a damp market, presumably in China, would probably cause the next pandemic. He was absolutely correct.
The ‘next big one,’ which may already be spreading faster and farther than scientists realize, is making Quammen more anxious, he said in an exclusive interview with the Daily Mail.
He asserts that bird flu is the most likely to become the next pandemic, and other public health specialists have cautioned that as the virus flu spreads uncontrollably on farms, the United States is at risk of another epidemic.
David Quammen, the acclaimed science writer who eerily predicted the COVID-19 outbreak in his 2012 book Spillover, now warns that bird flu (H5N1) could be the next global pandemic. In a recent interview, Quammen expressed deep concern over the virus’s rapid spread through animals like cows, chickens, and even dolphins, cautioning that each replication increases the chance of dangerous mutations.
He likens this viral evolution to spinning a roulette wheel billions of times—eventually, the right mutation may allow bird flu to spread from person to person. Although most current human cases stem from contact with infected animals, isolated cases without clear exposure worry health experts.
More than 70 human cases and one U.S. death have been recorded, alongside viral traces in milk and farm environments. Quammen blames industrial-scale farming and excessive human consumption for creating breeding grounds for future pandemics.
He urges governments to improve biosecurity and people to reconsider their meat consumption and reproductive choices, warning that pandemic prevention lies not just in science, but in human behavior and environmental responsibility.
