LAUSR

Throughout the history of humankind, we find innumerable records of pandemics anddevastating diseases, such as, to mention but a few, the Black Death, in the fourteenth century, or the 1918 Spanish flu, that led to millions of deaths. With the scientific advances of the last century, public opinion feels that such events are no longer likely to occur, but that is clearly a false belief. Yet there is some truth in this, since science can help society overcome these grand challenges. Friedrich Nietzsche said, “Illness is a clumsy attempt to arrive at health: we must come to nature’s aid with intellect.” However, we can ask ourselves if we are prepared for such dramatic crisis. OnMarch 18, 2015, Bill Gates delivered a premonition lecture entitled “We’re not ready for the next epidemic. We’re not ready for it. But we can get there.” Indeed, the tools of mathematics, computer science, biology, and medicine can guide us in mitigating and overcoming diseases. This special issue is about overarching efforts to understand, interpret, and possibly predict a specific disease spreading. By the end of 2002, the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) outbreak emerged in China and had a