Disease X: Hunting The Next Pandemic review — AI aids detection, but virus threat endures

BBC2's Disease X: Hunting The Next Pandemic frames a stark premise: the world may be edging toward a new outbreak even as science sharpens its tools for detection and response. Hosted by Dr Chris van Tulleken of the Hospital for Tropical Diseases in London, the program surveys the state of play in virology, surveillance and vaccine design while keeping a cautious tone about what lies ahead.

The show opens by warning that Covid-19 may have been a warning shot rather than a one-off event, and it lays out the threat of what experts fear: a nastier pathogen arriving with little notice. It also highlights ongoing global monitoring, including daily World Health Organization meetings that track potential clusters. In a standout segment, Glasgow University's Centre for Virus Research describes a handheld device capable of rapidly identifying previously undiscovered viruses. Scientists then use artificial intelligence to model virus structures, a process the program says can cut vaccine development timelines to minutes rather than months. The overall message leans toward optimism about speed of detection, even as the host underscores that the ultimate battle remains uncertain.

Historical outbreaks and notional scenarios are used to illustrate how quickly risks can escalate. The program recounts Malaysia's 1998 culling of about a million pigs after a fever with a reported fatality rate of around 40 percent—the pigs later shown to be innocent victims. In Bangladesh, an outbreak blamed on local dietary practices was traced to fruit bats and date palm sap rather than livestock. The piece also flags H5N1, or bird flu, as a concern, with recent cases in which farm workers contracted the virus after exposure to mammals on a dairy farm in Texas; while there were no deaths, the episode underscores the potential for cross-species transmission. The documentary uses these vignettes to underline that viruses can emerge from unexpected sources and that detection, surveillance, and rapid response must work in concert.

Despite the advances highlighted, the host concludes with a sobering reminder that the virus is a formidable foe. Technical progress—daily WHO briefings, handheld diagnostics and AI-driven analysis—improves readiness, but governments, supply chains and public behavior remain variables that can slow or derail responses. By the end, the documentary presents a balanced view: there is real progress in how science tracks and counters new pathogens, but the threat remains real, and the outcome of the next outbreak is far from certain.