[Aachen]

> The outbreak in northern China started in May 1977

Coincidence? Do they have a climate conducive to these sorts of viruses combined with a large enough population to make it likely they get infected first or is this my selection bias in noticing when it says "started in China" versus any other country?

[philjohn]

Large population that lives very close to natural reservoirs for viruses.

Spillover is a great book to read about zoonotic diseases.

[pvg]

It would be odd vs any other country if any other country contained a quarter of the world population in 1977.