The world is getting smaller as travel and technology improve.
According to microbiologist Dr. Nathan Wolfe, this means viruses can travel a lot faster too.
He was in the city on Wednesday to give a speech at London's Health Research Day.
Dr. Wolfe works to predict and stop viruses before they become pandemics.
He says people need to know the dangers of living in a highly connected world.
"The amount of connections that air travel creates means that a virus that starts in one part of the world can be anywhere else in the course of hours," says Dr. Wolfe.
The virus hunter wants people to know that awareness can protect us from transferring viruses.
"Too often, governments, individuals and media pay attention during and right after an event," says Dr. Wolfe. "What we need is a consistent and structured way of addressing these particular sorts of risks."
During the speech, the microbiologist also spoke about his field work in surveillance and diagnosis of new viruses.
**This story was written by Brooke Foster, a student in the Broadcast Journalism program at Fanshawe College. Brooke is currently performing an internship with BlackburnNews.com.
