Opening of Exhibit - Outbreaks: Epidemics in a Connected World

The exciting new traveling exhibition "Outbreak: Epidemics in a Connected World" brings to Houston for the first time a one-of-a-kind experience that uncovers answers to the common questions regarding the risks and potential rapid spread of pandemic outbreaks: Why do pathogens emerge where they do? How do they spill over from animals to people? What can individuals and communities do to prevent the next outbreak? The John P. McGovern Museum of Health and Medical Science in Houston will be able to take an up close and intricate look at pandemic risks in the 21st century, zoonotic emerging infectious diseases, and get a glimpse at how three outbreaks dramatically affected the Greater Houston region since the 1920s.

Created by the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C., Outbreak: Epidemics in a Connected World will be on display at The Health Museum through May 2020. The locally curated epidemics that will be featured in the “Close to Home” section of Outbreak include the plague in Galveston in the 1920s, Polio in the 1950s and HIV in the 1980s.  

 A bilingual experience in English and Spanish, Outbreak: Epidemics in a Connected World brings to life how communities around the world actively respond to these emergency scenarios.

 A mockup of a real-life pandemic response – complete with HAZMAT equipment and staging – will serve as the dramatic entrance to the very real world of life-threatening potential outbreaks. To highlight the intimately connected relationship between human, animal and environmental health, a section of the exhibition will also feature bats and the risks most commonly associated with them and other wildlife.  

The exhibit is open to viewing at the following hours:

• Monday - Saturday: 9 a.m. - 5 p.m.
• Thursday 9 a.m. - 7 p.m. (Free Family Thursday 2 p.m. - 7 p.m.)
• Sunday 12 p.m. - 5 p.m