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It’s what keeps microbiologists awake at night: when the next deadly disease breaks out, modern air travel means it will be halfway round the world before we even notice.
Or does it? Mass air travel might instead mean some bad outbreaks are less likely to happen, according to an analysis that turns accepted thinking about pandemics on its head.
The idea that the world is overdue for an outbreak of a fatal infectious disease – aka “the Big One” – is so widely …