- ISBN13: 9780670021277
- Condition: NEW
- Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
Product Description
A riveting account of why science alone can’t stop the next pandemic
When avian flu began spreading across Asia in the early-2000s, it reawakened fears that had lain dormant for nearly a century. During the outbreak’s deadliest years, Alan Sipress chased the virus as it infiltrated remote jungle villages and teeming cities and saw its mysteries elude the world’s top scientists. In The Fatal Strain, Sipress details how socioeconomic and political realities in Asia make it the perfect petri dish in which the fast-mutating strain can become easily communicable among humans. Once it does, the ease and speed of international travel and worldwide economic interdependence could make it as destructive as the flu pandemic of 1918.
In his vivid portrayal of the struggle between man and microbe, Sipress gives a front-line view of the accelerating number of near misses across Asia and the terrifying truth that the prospects for this impending health crisis may well be in the hands of cockfighters, live chicken merchants, and witch doctors rather than virologists or the World Health Organization.
Like The Hot Zone and The Great Influenza, The Fatal Strain is a fast-moving account that brings the inevitability of an epidemic into a fascinating cultural, scientific, and political narrative.
The Fatal Strain: On the Trail of Avian Flu and the Coming Pandemic
Just finished this fascinating first book and would recommend it to anyone interesting in global health.
Just one of the most interesting aspects is how cultural and economic considerations often trump strictly medical concerns.
One other segment I found truly interesting was the detailed chronology of the spread of SARS. I followed it in the media at the time, but this timeline was telling. Great effort!
Rating: 5 / 5
This was a terrific read and I’m pleased to be one of the early readers to write a review. The book is a candid, no nonsense, detail portrayal of the spread and current status of the H5N1 avian influenza virus(bird flu). Sipress never wandered from the focus of his detailed review and evolution of the viral epidemics he witnessed. His travels and intrepid search in the countries of Southeast Asia provides the reader with an accurate perspective on the magnitude and implications of the bird flu and why it is of major concern to the countries of the world, whether developed or developing. The human interest stories of the many individuals and victims the author encountered on his sojourn and the effects on the economy of these developing countries captivated my interest and appreciation.
The cooperation between the health surveillance organizations of the various countries where the epidemics were documented was comforting. However, the political insensitivity in those developing countries was equally worrisome.
Of paramount importance in understanding these epidemics and spread of the disease is the rapidity with which these viruses can change their genetic make-up that allows them to infect other species with unpredictable virulence.
As someone involved in biomedical research, it will be a book I will in all likelihood be referring to as we encounter the influenza epidemics of the future.
Kudos to Alen Sipress on this his first book! I look forward to his future or subsequent publications.
Rating: 5 / 5