In 1918, a pandemic strain of influenza killed at least 40 million people in three months. Now, leading researchers believe, another world catastrophe is imminent. The World Health Organization warns that the "bird flu" is on the verge of mutating into a super-contagious pandemic form that could visit several billion homes within two years. In this urgent and extraordinarily frightening book, Davis reconstructs the scientific and political history of a viral apocalypse-in-the-making.

Includes index.

Preface: Pieta -- Evolution's fast lane -- The virulence of poverty -- The wrong lessons -- Birds of Hong Kong -- A messy story -- Pandemic surprise -- The triangle of doom -- Plague and profit -- Edge of the abyss -- Homeland insecurity -- Structural contradictions -- The Titanic paradigm -- Conclusion: Year of the rooster.