From Richard Brown, Huntly, Aberdeenshire, UK
“Going viral” suggests large societal upheavals my occur due to plagues (23 July, p 42). Perhaps we can avert this. One abiding memory I have of crossing borders 50 years ago is that there were three desks to clear, immigration, customs and health. Checks at the last of those included up-to-date, certified vaccination for yellow fever, typhoid, cholera and smallpox.
In many countries, we appear to have dropped the health check. This has cost us. As a species, we might be well advised to revisit tried-and-tested practices. After all, more novel diseases may be coming our way.
