from Naples, called it the ‘Neopolitan disease’. In Russia, it was the
Polish disease, in Poland it was Turkish, and in Turkey it was
Christian.[75]
Such blame can stick for a long time. We still refer to the 1918
influenza pandemic, which killed tens of millions of people globally, as
the ‘Spanish flu’. The name emerged during the outbreak because
media reports suggested Spain was the worst hit country in Europe.
However, these reports weren’t quite what they seemed. At the time,
Spain had no wartime censorship of news reports, unlike Germany,
England and France, who quashed news of disease for fear that it
might damage morale. The media blackout in these countries
therefore made it appear that Spain had far more cases than
anywhere else. (For their part, the Spanish media tried to blame the
disease on the French.[76])
If we want to avoid country-specific disease names, it helps to
suggest an alternative. One Saturday morning in March 2003, a
group of experts gathered at headquarters in Geneva to discuss
a newly discovered infection in Asia.[77] Cases had already appeared
in Hong Kong, China and Vietnam, with another reported in Frankfurt
that morning. was about to announce the threat to the world, but
first they needed a name. They wanted something that was easy to
remember, but which wouldn’t stigmatize the countries involved.
Eventually they settled on ‘Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome’, or
for short.
T in over eight thousand cases and
several hundred deaths, across multiple continents. Despite being
brought under control in June 2003, the epidemic would cost an
estimated $40 billion dollars globally.[78] It wasn’t just the direct cost
of treating disease cases; it was the economic impact of closed
workplaces, empty hotels and cancelled trade.
According to Andy Haldane, now Chief Economist at the Bank of
England, the wider effects of the epidemic were comparable
with the fallout from the 2008 financial crisis. ‘These similarities are
striking,’ he said in a 2009 speech.[79] ‘An external event strikes.