As 2020 dawned, the World Health Organization received its first emerging disease notification of the decade. Authorities reported that dozens of people in Wuhan City, China, were ill with “pneumonia of unknown cause”, some with severe respiratory symptoms. Experts now suggest that more than 1,700 people may have been infected.

Microbiologists quickly ruled out known pathogens. Within a week experts in China identified the cause as a new virus from the same family as severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars) and Middle East respiratory syndrome (Mers), with people likely to have been infected through a seafood market.

The history of emerging diseases and likely future demographic changes suggest that we are in for many outbreaks of infectious disease by 2050. That said, advancing medical technology will give us better weapons to respond to and protect people from emerging infections.