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| the coming plague laurie garrett: The Coming Plague Laurie Garrett, 1994 Surveys fifty years of man's battle with communicable disease. |
| the coming plague laurie garrett: The Coming Plague Laurie Garrett, 1994-10-31 A New York Times bestseller The definitive account of the infectious diseases threatening humanity by Pulitzer Prize–winning investigative journalist Laurie Garrett Prodigiously researched . . . A frightening vision of the future and a deeply unsettling one. —Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times After decades spent assuming that the conquest of infectious disease was imminent, people on all continents now find themselves besieged by AIDS, drug-resistant tuberculosis, cholera that defies chlorine water treatment, and exotic viruses that can kill in a matter of hours. Relying on extensive interviews with leading experts in virology, molecular biology, disease ecology, and medicine, as well as field research in sub-Saharan Africa, Western Europe, Central America, and the United States, Laurie Garrett's The Coming Plague takes readers from the savannas of eastern Bolivia to the rain forests of the northern Democratic Republic of the Congo on a harrowing, fifty year journey through the history of our battles with microbes. This book is a work of investigative reportage like no other and a wake-up call to a world that has become complacent in the face of infectious disease—one that offers a sobering and prescient warning about the dangers of ignoring the coming plague. |
| the coming plague laurie garrett: Betrayal of Trust Laurie Garrett, 2011-05-10 In this meticulously researched account (New York Times Book Review), a Pulitzer Prize-winning author examines the dangers of a failing public health system unequipped to handle large-scale global risks like a coronavirus pandemic. The New York Times bestselling author of The Coming Plague, Laurie Garrett takes on perhaps the most crucial global issue of our time in this eye-opening book. She asks: is our collective health in a state of decline? If so, how dire is this crisis and has the public health system itself contributed to it? Using riveting detail and finely-honed storytelling, exploring outbreaks around the world, Garrett exposes the underbelly of the world's globalization to find out if it can still be assumed that government can and will protect the people's health, or if that trust has been irrevocably broken. A frightening vision of the future and a deeply unsettling one . . . a sober, scary book that not only limns the dangers posed by emerging diseases but also raises serious questions about two centuries' worth of Enlightenment beliefs in science and technology and progress. -- Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times |
| the coming plague laurie garrett: Ebola Laurie Garrett, 2014-11-18 Where does Ebola originate? How does it spread? And what should governments do to stop it? Few people understand the answers to these questions better than Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Laurie Garrett. In this masterful account of the 1995 Ebola outbreak in Zaire, Garrett, now the Senior Fellow for Global Health at the Council on Foreign Relations, shows how superstition and fear, compounded by a lack of resources, education, and clearheaded government planning have plagued our response to Ebola. In an extensive new introduction, Garrett forcefully argues that learning from past outbreaks is the key to solving the Ebola crisis of 2014. In her account of the 1995 Zaire outbreak, first published in her bestselling book Betrayal of Trust, Garrett takes readers through the epidemic's course-beginning with the Kikwit villager who first contracted it from an animal encounter while chopping wood for charcoal deep in the forest. As she documents the outbreak in riveting detail, Garrett shows why our trust in world governments to protect people's health has been irrevocably broken. She details the international community's engagement in the epidemic's aftermath: a pattern of response and abandonment, urgency that devolves into amnesia. Ebola: Story of an Outbreak is essential reading for anyone who wants to comprehend Ebola, one of mankind's most mysterious, malicious scourges. Garrett has issued a powerful call for governments, citizens, and the disease-fighting agencies of the wealthy world to take action. |
| the coming plague laurie garrett: Contagious Priscilla Wald, 2008-01-09 DIVShows how narratives of contagion structure communities of belonging and how the lessons of these narratives are incorporated into sociological theories of cultural transmission and community formation./div |
| the coming plague laurie garrett: Phantom Plague Vidya Krishna, 2022-04-29 The definitive social history of tuberculosis, from its origins as a haunting mystery to its modern reemergence that now threatens populations around the world. It killed novelist George Orwell, Eleanor Roosevelt, and millions of others-rich and poor. Desmond Tutu, Amitabh Bachchan, and Nelson Mandela survived it, just. For centuries, tuberculosis has ravaged cities and plagued the human body. In Phantom Plague, Vidya Krishnan, traces the history of tuberculosis from the slums of 19th-century New York to modern Mumbai. In a narrative spanning century, Krishnan shows how superstition and folk-remedies, made way for scientific understanding of TB, such that it was controlled and cured in the West. The cure was never available to black and brown nations. And the tuberculosis bacillus showed a remarkable ability to adapt-so that at the very moment it could have been extinguished as a threat to humanity, it found a way back, aided by authoritarian government, toxic kindness of philanthropists, science denialism and medical apartheid. Krishnan's original reporting paints a granular portrait of the post-antibiotic era as a new, aggressive, drug resistant strain of TB takes over. Phantom Plague is an urgent, riveting and fascinating narrative that deftly exposes the weakest links in our battle against this ancient foe. |
| the coming plague laurie garrett: The Hot Zone Richard Preston, 2012-03-14 The bestselling landmark account of the first emergence of the Ebola virus. Now a mini-series drama starring Julianna Margulies, Topher Grace, Liam Cunningham, James D'Arcy, and Noah Emmerich on National Geographic. A highly infectious, deadly virus from the central African rain forest suddenly appears in the suburbs of Washington, D.C. There is no cure. In a few days 90 percent of its victims are dead. A secret military SWAT team of soldiers and scientists is mobilized to stop the outbreak of this exotic hot virus. The Hot Zone tells this dramatic story, giving a hair-raising account of the appearance of rare and lethal viruses and their crashes into the human race. Shocking, frightening, and impossible to ignore, The Hot Zone proves that truth really is scarier than fiction. |
| the coming plague laurie garrett: A World Without Soil Jo Handelsman, Kayla Cohen, 2021-01-01 A celebrated biologist's manifesto addressing a soil loss crisis accelerated by poor conservation practices and climate change Jo Handelsman is a national treasure, and her clarion call warning of a looming soil-loss catastrophe must be heard. Add her clearly written alarm to other future-shocks: climate change, pandemics, and mass extinctions.--Laurie Garrett, Pulitzer Prize winner and author of The Coming Plague: Newly Emerging Diseases in a World out of Balance The ground beneath our feet is slipping away as we lose the precious soil that sustains us. Jo Handelsman's writing--as rich and life supporting as the soil itself--is a riveting warning.--Alan Alda, actor, writer, and host of the podcast Clear+Vivid with Alan Alda This book by celebrated biologist Jo Handelsman lays bare the complex connections among climate change, soil erosion, food and water security, and drug discovery. Humans depend on soil for 95 percent of global food production, yet let it erode at unsustainable rates. In the United States, China, and India, vast tracts of farmland will be barren of topsoil within this century. The combination of intensifying erosion caused by climate change and the increasing food needs of a growing world population is creating a desperate need for solutions to this crisis. Writing for a nonspecialist audience, Jo Handelsman celebrates the capacities of soil and explores the soil-related challenges of the near future. She begins by telling soil's origin story, explains how it erodes and the subsequent repercussions worldwide, and offers solutions. She considers lessons learned from indigenous people who have sustainably farmed the same land for thousands of years, practices developed for large-scale agriculture, and proposals using technology and policy initiatives. |
| the coming plague laurie garrett: Viruses, Plagues, and History Michael B. A. Oldstone, 2020 In Viruses, Plagues, and History, virologist Michael Oldstone explains the scientific principles of viruses and epidemics while relating the past and present history of the major and recurring viral threats to human health, and how they have influenced human events. |
| the coming plague laurie garrett: Until Proven Safe Nicola Twilley, Geoff Manaugh, 2021-07-20 Geoff Manaugh and Nicola Twilley have been researching quarantine since long before the COVID-19 pandemic. With Until Proven Safe, they bring us a book as compelling as it is definitive, not only urgent reading for social-distanced times but also an up-to-the-minute investigation of the interplay of forces–––biological, political, technological––that shape our modern world. Quarantine is our most powerful response to uncertainty: it means waiting to see if something hidden inside us will be revealed. It is also one of our most dangerous, operating through an assumption of guilt. In quarantine, we are considered infectious until proven safe. Until Proven Safe tracks the history and future of quarantine around the globe, chasing the story of emergency isolation through time and space—from the crumbling lazarettos of the Mediterranean, built to contain the Black Death, to an experimental Ebola unit in London, and from the hallways of the CDC to closed-door simulations where pharmaceutical execs and epidemiologists prepare for the outbreak of a novel coronavirus. But the story of quarantine ranges far beyond the history of medical isolation. In Until Proven Safe, the authors tour a nuclear-waste isolation facility beneath the New Mexican desert, see plants stricken with a disease that threatens the world’s wheat supply, and meet NASA’s Planetary Protection Officer, tasked with saving Earth from extraterrestrial infections. They also introduce us to the corporate tech giants hoping to revolutionize quarantine through surveillance and algorithmic prediction. We live in a disorienting historical moment that can feel both unprecedented and inevitable; Until Proven Safe helps us make sense of our new reality through a thrillingly reported, thought-provoking exploration of the meaning of freedom, governance, and mutual responsibility. |
| the coming plague laurie garrett: The Viral Storm Nathan Wolfe, 2011-10-11 The Indiana Jones of virus hunters reveals the complex interactions between humans and viruses, and the threat from viruses that jump from species to species-- Provided by publisher. |
| the coming plague laurie garrett: The Fourth Horseman Alan E Nourse, 2013-04-12 Wilderness Patrol fficer Pamela Tate, scouting in the mountains of Washington, sees and touches a ground squirrel in the dusty path, blood trickling from its mouth. Forty-eight hours later she lies dead at her campsite, covered in mysterious welts and bruises. Across the lake, a boisterous camping party falls silent as they watch each other sicken and die in agony. A killer is loose. It has a foreign name. Yersinia Pestis. Plague. An unknowing nation harbors the deadly evil in its midst. While a few embattled survivors race to save the country, perhaps the world, the grim invader hides in a mother’s sigh, a child’s laugh, a lover’s whisper. Nothing can stop the death ride of . . . The Fourth Horseman. |
| the coming plague laurie garrett: The Plague Cycle Charles Kenny, 2021-01-19 A vivid, sweeping, and “fact-filled” (Booklist, starred review) history of mankind’s battles with infectious disease that “contextualizes the COVID-19 pandemic” (Publishers Weekly)—for readers of the #1 New York Times bestsellers Yuval Harari’s Sapiens and John Barry’s The Great Influenza. For four thousand years, the size and vitality of cities, economies, and empires were heavily determined by infection. Striking humanity in waves, the cycle of plagues set the tempo of civilizational growth and decline, since common response to the threat was exclusion—quarantining the sick or keeping them out. But the unprecedented hygiene and medical revolutions of the past two centuries have allowed humanity to free itself from the hold of epidemic cycles—resulting in an urbanized, globalized, and unimaginably wealthy world. However, our development has lately become precarious. Climate and population fluctuations and factors such as global trade have left us more vulnerable than ever to newly emerging plagues. Greater global cooperation toward sustainable health is urgently required—such as the international efforts to manufacture and distribute a COVID-19 vaccine—with millions of lives and trillions of dollars at stake. “A timely, lucid look at the role of pandemics in history” (Kirkus Reviews), The Plague Cycle reveals the relationship between civilization, globalization, prosperity, and infectious disease over the past five millennia. It harnesses history, economics, and public health, and charts humanity’s remarkable progress, providing a fascinating and astute look at the cyclical nature of infectious disease. |
| the coming plague laurie garrett: Environmentally Induced Illnesses Thomas Kerns, 2012-07-24 Readers drawn to Rachel Carson's Silent Spring, Laurie Garrett's The Coming Plague, or Theo Colburn's Our Stolen Future will appreciate this work by Thomas Kerns as well. The growing epidemics of chemically induced illnesses from long-term, low-dose exposure to toxicants in both developed and developing nations are being studied by serious researchers. Questions are being raised as to how societies will deal with these new problems. Kerns's book is the first to directly address the ethical dimension of managing environmental health and ubiquitous toxicants (such as solvents, pesticides, and artificial fragrances). The work includes recent medical literature on chronic health effects from exposure to toxicants and the social costs of these disorders; relevant historic and human rights documents; recommendations for public policy and legislation; and primary obstacles faced by public health advocates. College instructors and students, victims of chemical sensitivity disorders, public health workers, scientists, and policymakers who are interested in the challenge of these emerging epidemics will find Kerns's text highly informative. |
| the coming plague laurie garrett: Mirage of Health René Dubos, 2018-12-02 Every man dreams of a utopia in which disease is conquered and the only thing left to die of is old age. In a study of the history and concepts of medicine, René Dubos, who is one of America’s most distinguished scientists, shows that such a utopia is neither possible nor desirable. Organized species such as ants have established a satisfactory equilibrium with their environment and suffer no great waves of disease or changes in their social structure. But man is essentially dynamic, his way of life constantly in flux from century to century. He experiments with synthetic products and changes his diet; he builds cities that breed rats and infection; he builds automobiles and factories which pollute the air; and he constructs radioactive bombs. As life becomes more comfortable and technology more complicated, new factors introduce new dangers; the ingredients for utopia are the agents of new disease. Dr. Dubois’ thesis may sound discouraging to a world looking for a cure-all in medical research, but actually it is affirmative—even hopeful. Once we accept the fact that “complete freedom from disease and from struggle is almost incompatible with the process of living,” we will know that our aspirations cannot be satisfied with health and the easy life. “The viewpoint expressed in Mirage of Health has now become a dominant one in our general culture and encompasses much of current concern with improving lifestyles related to health and promoting greater health consciousness among the public. In this sense, the discussion, although written twenty-five years ago, is perhaps more relevant today than it was then.”—DAVID MECHANIC, University Professor, René Dubos Professor of Behavioral Sciences, and Director of the Institute for Health, Health Care Policy, and Aging Research, Rutgers University |
| the coming plague laurie garrett: The Origins of AIDS Jacques Pépin, 2021-01-21 An updated edition of Jacques Pépin's acclaimed account of the events that transformed a chimpanzee virus into a global pandemic. |
| the coming plague laurie garrett: Epidemics and Society Frank M. Snowden, 2019-10-22 A wide-ranging study that illuminates the connection between epidemic diseases and societal change, from the Black Death to Ebola This sweeping exploration of the impact of epidemic diseases looks at how mass infectious outbreaks have shaped society, from the Black Death to today. In a clear and accessible style, Frank M. Snowden reveals the ways that diseases have not only influenced medical science and public health, but also transformed the arts, religion, intellectual history, and warfare. A multidisciplinary and comparative investigation of the medical and social history of the major epidemics, this volume touches on themes such as the evolution of medical therapy, plague literature, poverty, the environment, and mass hysteria. In addition to providing historical perspective on diseases such as smallpox, cholera, and tuberculosis, Snowden examines the fallout from recent epidemics such as HIV/AIDS, SARS, and Ebola and the question of the world’s preparedness for the next generation of diseases. |
| the coming plague laurie garrett: Plagues Upon the Earth Kyle Harper, 2021-10-12 Panoramic in scope, Plagues upon the Earth traces the role of disease in the transition to farming, the spread of cities, the advance of transportation, and the stupendous increase in human population. Harper offers a new interpretation of humanitys path to control over infectious diseaseone where rising evolutionary threats constantly push back against human progress, and where the devastating effects of modernization contribute to the great divergence between societies. The book reminds us that human health is globally interdependentand inseparable from the well-being of the planet itself.-- |
| the coming plague laurie garrett: The Demon in the Freezer Richard Preston, 2003-08-26 “The bard of biological weapons captures the drama of the front lines.”—Richard Danzig, former secretary of the navy The first major bioterror event in the United States-the anthrax attacks in October 2001-was a clarion call for scientists who work with “hot” agents to find ways of protecting civilian populations against biological weapons. In The Demon in the Freezer, his first nonfiction book since The Hot Zone, a #1 New York Times bestseller, Richard Preston takes us into the heart of Usamriid, the United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases at Fort Detrick, Maryland, once the headquarters of the U.S. biological weapons program and now the epicenter of national biodefense. Peter Jahrling, the top scientist at Usamriid, a wry virologist who cut his teeth on Ebola, one of the world’s most lethal emerging viruses, has ORCON security clearance that gives him access to top secret information on bioweapons. His most urgent priority is to develop a drug that will take on smallpox-and win. Eradicated from the planet in 1979 in one of the great triumphs of modern science, the smallpox virus now resides, officially, in only two high-security freezers-at the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta and in Siberia, at a Russian virology institute called Vector. But the demon in the freezer has been set loose. It is almost certain that illegal stocks are in the possession of hostile states, including Iraq and North Korea. Jahrling is haunted by the thought that biologists in secret labs are using genetic engineering to create a new superpox virus, a smallpox resistant to all vaccines. Usamriid went into a state of Delta Alert on September 11 and activated its emergency response teams when the first anthrax letters were opened in New York and Washington, D.C. Preston reports, in unprecedented detail, on the government’ s response to the attacks and takes us into the ongoing FBI investigation. His story is based on interviews with top-level FBI agents and with Dr. Steven Hatfill. Jahrling is leading a team of scientists doing controversial experiments with live smallpox virus at CDC. Preston takes us into the lab where Jahrling is reawakening smallpox and explains, with cool and devastating precision, what may be at stake if his last bold experiment fails. |
| the coming plague laurie garrett: Pandemic Sonia Shah, 2016-02-16 Interweaving history, original reportage, and personal narrative, Pandemic explores the origins of epidemics, drawing parallels between the story of cholera-- one of history's most disruptive and deadly pathogens-- and the new pathogens that stalk humankind today-- |
| the coming plague laurie garrett: Risky Trade Ann Marie Kimball, 2016-04-08 The current value of global trade has reached a staggering annual figure of $6 trillion in merchandise crossing borders. Such prolific global trading has, at the same time, begun to raise fears of pandemics and concerns for global health. Yet, investment in public health infrastructure and disease control was never designed to cope with international trade of this volume and diversity. Indeed, most health systems lag far behind, especially in poor countries. This has created new vulnerabilities for global populations to the introduction and amplification of infection through trade. Public fears have been further heightened by frightening news reports of deadly diseases such as Mad Cow disease and E. Coli. Risky Trade: Infectious Disease in the Era of Global Trade provides a thorough examination of the actual risks posed by disease in the age of globalization. Drawing on the economics of international trade and epidemiology, the author explores the critical health issues arising from the enormous increase in global trade and travel. Issues covered include: ¢ The scale of the problem with particular reference to the Sakai outbreak of E. Coli; ¢ Risks from particular microbes - Enteric and viral infections; Highly infectious agents; Antimicrobial resistance; and, Stealth agents; ¢ Global outbreaks as a result of human travel and trade; ¢ Prevention, surveillance and control; ¢ The future health of global trading. In addition to highlighting the problems, the book also addresses some of the potential benefits the same globalization can bring to epidemic control through surveillance, diagnostics, treatment and investigation. The empirical approach ties together existing descriptions and case studies of epidemics building a comprehensive framework for examining new events and considering historical experience with infectious outbreaks. The volume will be a valuable guide to students, academics, practitioners, and policy makers in the areas of international trade, health economics, epidemiology, international/public health and disease control. |
| the coming plague laurie garrett: Virus Ground Zero Edward Regis, Ed Regis, 1998-07 An acclaimed science writer takes readers behind the scenes at the Centers for Disease Control to tell the story of an engrossing odyssey across the viral frontier. |
| the coming plague laurie garrett: The Hot Zone Richard Preston, 1995 Imagine a killer with the infectiousness of the common cold and power of the Black Death. Imagine something so deadly that it wipes out 90% of those it touches. Imagine an organism against which there is no defence. But you don't need to imagine. Such a killer exists: it is a virus and its name is Ebola. The Hot Zone tells what happens when the unthinkable becomes reality: when a deadly virus, from the rain forests of Africa, crosses continents and infects a monkey house ten miles from the White House. Ebola is that reality. It has the power to decimate the world's population. Try not to panic. It will be back. There is nothing you can do... |
| the coming plague laurie garrett: The Cobra Event Richard Preston, 2007-04-10 The Cobra Event is set in motion one spring morning in New York City, when a seventeen-year-old student wakes up feeling vaguely ill. Hours later she is having violent seizures, blood is pouring out of her nose, and she has begun a hideous process of self-cannibalization. Soon, other gruesome deaths of a similar nature have been discovered, and the Centers for Disease Control sends a forensic pathologist to investigate. What she finds precipitates a federal crisis. The details of this story are fictional, but they are based on a scrupulously thorough inquiry into the history of biological weapons and their use by civilian and military terrorists. Richard Preston's sources include members of the FBI and the United States military, public health officials, intelligence officers in foreign governments, and scientists who have been involved in the testing of strategic bioweapons. The accounts of what they have seen and what they expect to happen are chilling. The Cobra Event is a dramatic, heart-stopping account of a very real threat, told with the skill and authority that made Preston's The Hot Zone an internationally acclaimed bestseller. |
| the coming plague laurie garrett: A Field Guide for Science Writers Deborah Blum, Mary Knudson, Robin Marantz Henig, 2006 This guide offers practical tips on science writing - from investigative reporting to pitching ideas to magazine editors. Some of the best known science witers in the US share their hard earned knowledge on how they do their job. |
| the coming plague laurie garrett: AIDS Jaime Sepúlveda Amor, Harvey V. Fineberg, Jonathan M. Mann, 1992 A decade after AIDS was first recognized, the simple idea that education is the most effective weapon to prevent infection remains valid. This is true because AIDS will not disappear, just as the majority of infectious diseases have not disappeared, even those for which effective methods of treatment and prevention already exist. Therefore, education is not a transitory strategy; if and when effective drugs and vaccines are developed, education will still play a major role in contending with the epidemic. Enough has been learned about AIDS prevention through education during the last decade to merit reflection on both the failures and successes of this short, tragic but also intense and vital period. The original education models based on fear have been replaced with more optimistic and even humorous campaigns. Health promotion has moved to center stage in the global fight against AIDS. This book is an effort to collect and organize a wealth of global experience from many experts and to consolidate new information. Included among the variety of strategies are discussions of the role of both the print and electronic media in the national fight, as well as presentations of international lessons gleaned from community and regional efforts in Brazil, Africa, Mexico and Europe. The book offers the reader a range of views and perspectives from experts in the varied disciplines that make up the very broad field of AIDS education. This timely, important volume offers AIDS researchers, clinicians, and educators, as well as public health and infectious disease professionals key, practical insights for global AIDS prevention. |
| the coming plague laurie garrett: Governing Global Health Chelsea Clinton, Devi Sridhar, 2017-01-12 The past few decades have seen a massive increase in the number of international organizations focusing on global health. Campaigns to eradicate or stem the spread of AIDS, SARS, malaria, and Ebola attest to the increasing importance of globally-oriented health organizations. These organizations may be national, regional, international, or even non-state organizations-like Medicins Sans Frontieres. One of the more important recent trends in global health governance, though, has been the rise of public-private partnerships (PPPs) where private non-governmental organizations, for-profit enterprises, and various other social entrepreneurs work hand-in-hand with governments to combat specific maladies. A primary driver for this development is the widespread belief that by joining together, PPPs will attack health problems and fund shared efforts more effectively than other systems. As Chelsea Clinton and Devi Sridhar show in Governing Global Health, these partnerships are not only important for combating infectious diseases; they also provide models for developing solutions to a host of other serious global health challenges and questions beyond health. But what do we actually know about the accountability and effectiveness of PPPs in relation to the traditional multilaterals? According to Clinton and Sridhar, we have known very little because scholars have not accumulated enough data or developed effective ways to assess them-until now. In their analysis, they uncovered both strength and weaknesses of the model. Using principal-agent theory in which governments are the principals directing international agents of various type, they take a closer look at two major PPPs-the Global Fund to Fight HIV/AIDS, TB and Malaria and the GAVI Alliance-and two major more traditional international organizations-the World Health Organization and the World Bank. An even-handed and thorough empirical analysis of one of the most pressing topics in world affairs, Governing Global Health will reshape our understanding of how organizations can more effectively prevent the spread of communicable diseases like AIDS and reduce pervasive chronic health problems like malnutrition. |
| the coming plague laurie garrett: Zika: The Emerging Epidemic Donald G. McNeil Jr., 2016-06-28 A gripping narrative about the origins and spread of the Zika virus by New York Times science reporter Donald G. McNeil Jr. Until recently, Zika—once considered a mild disease—was hardly a cause for global panic. But as early as August 2015, doctors in northeast Brazil began to notice a trend: many mothers who had recently experienced symptoms of the Zika virus were giving birth to babies with microcephaly, a serious disorder characterized by unusually small heads and brain damage. By early 2016, Zika was making headlines as evidence mounted—and eventually confirmed—that microcephaly is caused by the virus, which can be contracted through mosquito bites or sexually transmitted. The first death on American soil, in February 2016, was confirmed in Puerto Rico in April. The first case of microcephaly in Puerto Rico was confirmed on May 13, 2016. The virus has been known to be transmitted by the Aedes aegypti or Yellow Fever mosquito, but now Aedes albopictus, the Asian Tiger mosquito, has been found to carry it as well, which means it might affect regions as far north as New England and the Great Lakes. Right now, at least 298 million people in the Americas live in areas “conducive to Zika transmission,” according to a recent study. Over the next year, more than 5 million babies will be born. In Zika: The Emerging Epidemic, Donald G. McNeil Jr. sets the facts straight in a fascinating exploration of Zika’s origins, how it’s spreading, the race for a cure, and what we can do to protect ourselves now. |
| the coming plague laurie garrett: Epidemics Sarah Dry, Melissa Leach, 2010-09-23 Recent disease events such as SARS, H1N1 and avian influenza, and haemorrhagic fevers have focussed policy and public concern as never before on epidemics and so-called 'emerging infectious diseases'. Understanding and responding to these often unpredictable events have become major challenges for local, national and international bodies. All too often, responses can become restricted by implicit assumptions about who or what is to blame that may not capture the dynamics and uncertainties at play in the multi-scale interactions of people, animals and microbes. As a result, policies intended to forestall epidemics may fail, and may even further threaten health, livelihoods and human rights. The book takes a unique approach by focusing on how different policy-makers, scientists, and local populations construct alternative narratives-accounts of the causes and appropriate responses to outbreaks- about epidemics at the global, national and local level. The contrast between emergency-oriented, top-down responses to what are perceived as potentially global outbreaks and longer-term approaches to diseases, such as AIDS, which may now be considered endemic, is highlighted. Case studies-on avian influenza, SARS, obesity, H1N1 influenza, HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and haemorrhagic fevers-cover a broad historical, geographical and biological range. As this book explores, it is often the most vulnerable members of a population-the poor, the social excluded and the already ill-who are likely to suffer most from epidemic diseases. At the same time, they may be less likely to benefit from responses that may be designed from a global perspective that neglects social, ecological and political conditions on the ground. This book aims to bring the focus back to these marginal populations to reveal the often unintended consequences of current policy responses to epidemics. Important implications emerge - for how epidemics are thought about and represented; for how surveillance and response is designed; and for whose knowledge and perspectives should be included. Published in association with the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) |
| the coming plague laurie garrett: Ebola David Quammen, 2014-10-02 In 1976 a deadly virus emerged from the Congo forest. As swiftly as it came, it disappeared, leaving no trace. Over the four decades since, Ebola has emerged sporadically, each time to devastating effect. It can kill up to 90% of its victims. In between these outbreaks, it is untraceable, hiding deep in the jungle. The search is on to find Ebola’s elusive host animal. And until we find it, Ebola will continue to strike. Acclaimed science writer and explorer David Quammen first came near the virus whilst travelling in the jungles of Gabon, accompanied by local men whose village had been devastated by a recent outbreak. Here he tells the story of Ebola, its past, present and its unknowable future. |
| the coming plague laurie garrett: Warnings Richard A. Clarke, R.P. Eddy, 2017-05-23 From President Bill Clinton's recommended reading list Publishers Weekly Bestseller Warnings is the story of the future of national security, threatening technologies, the U.S. economy, and possibly the fate of civilization. In Greek mythology Cassandra foresaw calamities, but was cursed by the gods to be ignored. Modern-day Cassandras clearly predicted the disasters of Katrina, Fukushima, the Great Recession, the rise of ISIS, the spread of viruses and many more. Like the mythological Cassandra, they were ignored. There are others right now warning of impending disasters—from cyber attacks to pandemics—but how do we know which warnings are likely to be right? Through riveting explorations in a variety of fields, the authors—both accomplished CEOs and White House National Security Council veterans—discover a method to separate the accurate Cassandras from the crazy doomsayers. They then investigate the experts who today are warning of future disasters: the threats from artificial intelligence, bio-hacking, malware attacks, and more, and whose calls are not being heeded. Clarke’s and Eddy’s penetrating insights are essential for any person, any business, or any government that doesn’t want to be a blind victim of tomorrow’s catastrophe. |
| the coming plague laurie garrett: Survival of the Sickest LP Dr. Sharon Moalem, Jonathan Prince, 2007-05-22 Was diabetes evolution's response to the last Ice Age? Did a deadly genetic disease help our ancestors survive the bubonic plagues of Europe? Will a visit to the tanning salon help lower your cholesterol? Why do we age? Why are some people immune to HIV? Can your genes be turned on—or off? Survival of the Sickest is fi lled with fascinating insights and cutting-edge research, presented in a way that is both accessible and utterly absorbing. This is a book about the interconnectedness of all life on earth—and especially what that means for us. Read it. You're already living it. |
| the coming plague laurie garrett: Evolution of Infectious Disease Paul W. Ewald, 1994-01-06 Findings from the field of evolutionary biology are yielding dramatic insights for health scientists, especially those involved in the fight against infectious diseases. This book is the first in-depth presentation of these insights. In detailing why the pathogens that cause malaria, smallpox, tuberculosis, and AIDS have their special kinds of deadliness, the book shows how efforts to control virtually all diseases would benefit from a more thorough application of evolutionary principles. When viewed from a Darwinian perspective, a pathogen is not simply a disease-causing agent, it is a self-replicating organism driven by evolutionary pressures to pass on as many copies of itself as possible. In this context, so-called cultural vectors--those aspects of human behavior and the human environment that allow spread of disease from immobilized people--become more important than ever. Interventions to control diseases don't simply hinder their spread but can cause pathogens and the diseases they engender to evolve into more benign forms. In fact, the union of health science with evolutionary biology offers an entirely new dimension to policy making, as the possibility of determining the future course of many diseases becomes a reality. By presenting the first detailed explanation of an evolutionary perspective on infectious disease, the author has achieved a genuine milestone in the synthesis of health science, epidemiology, and evolutionary biology. Written in a clear, accessible style, it is intended for a wide readership among professionals in these fields and general readers interested in science and health. |
| the coming plague laurie garrett: Spillover: Animal Infections and the Next Human Pandemic David Quammen, 2012-10 A masterpiece of science reporting that tracks the animal origins of emerginghuman diseases. |
| the coming plague laurie garrett: Dead Season Alan Berlow, 1998 This gripping investigation of a savage murder on the Philippine island of Negros illuminates the tangled and violent interplay of colonialism's legacy. As Alan Berlow investigates the murder, he discovers the ultimate cause imbedded in the history and culture of a society locked into cycles of violent conflict behind a facade of democratic government. |
| the coming plague laurie garrett: Crisis in the Red Zone Richard Preston, 2019-07-23 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • An urgent wake-up call about the future of emerging viruses and a gripping account of the doctors and scientists fighting to protect us, told through the story of the deadly 2013–2014 Ebola epidemic “Crisis in the Red Zone reads like a thriller. That the story it tells is all true makes it all more terrifying.”—Elizabeth Kolbert, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Sixth Extinction From the #1 bestselling author of The Hot Zone, now a National Geographic original miniseries . . . This time, Ebola started with a two-year-old child who likely had contact with a wild creature and whose entire family quickly fell ill and died. The ensuing global drama activated health professionals in North America, Europe, and Africa in a desperate race against time to contain the viral wildfire. By the end—as the virus mutated into its deadliest form, and spread farther and faster than ever before—30,000 people would be infected, and the dead would be spread across eight countries on three continents. In this taut and suspenseful medical drama, Richard Preston deeply chronicles the pandemic, in which we saw for the first time the specter of Ebola jumping continents, crossing the Atlantic, and infecting people in America. Rich in characters and conflict—physical, emotional, and ethical—Crisis in the Red Zone is an immersion in one of the great public health calamities of our time. Preston writes of doctors and nurses in the field putting their own lives on the line, of government bureaucrats and NGO administrators moving, often fitfully, to try to contain the outbreak, and of pharmaceutical companies racing to develop drugs to combat the virus. He also explores the charged ethical dilemma over who should and did receive the rare doses of an experimental treatment when they became available at the peak of the disaster. Crisis in the Red Zone makes clear that the outbreak of 2013–2014 is a harbinger of further, more severe outbreaks, and of emerging viruses heretofore unimagined—in any country, on any continent. In our ever more interconnected world, with roads and towns cut deep into the jungles of equatorial Africa, viruses both familiar and undiscovered are being unleashed into more densely populated areas than ever before. The more we discover about the virosphere, the more we realize its deadly potential. Crisis in the Red Zone is an exquisitely timely book, a stark warning of viral outbreaks to come. |
| the coming plague laurie garrett: Epidemic! Rob DeSalle, American Museum of Natural History, 1999 Epidemic! explores the world of infectious diseases with essays by Nobel Prize-winning experts, profiles of scientists and researchers, and case studies. 60 photos, 22 illustrations. |
| the coming plague laurie garrett: The Perfect Predator Steffanie Strathdee, Thomas Patterson, 2019-02-26 An electrifying memoir of one woman's extraordinary effort to save her husband's life-and the discovery of a forgotten cure that has the potential to save millions more. A memoir that reads like a thriller. -New York Times Book Review A fascinating and terrifying peek into the devastating outcomes of antibiotic misuse-and what happens when standard health care falls short. -Scientific American Epidemiologist Steffanie Strathdee and her husband, psychologist Tom Patterson, were vacationing in Egypt when Tom came down with a stomach bug. What at first seemed like a case of food poisoning quickly turned critical, and by the time Tom had been transferred via emergency medevac to the world-class medical center at UC San Diego, where both he and Steffanie worked, blood work revealed why modern medicine was failing: Tom was fighting one of the most dangerous, antibiotic-resistant bacteria in the world. Frantic, Steffanie combed through research old and new and came across phage therapy: the idea that the right virus, aka the perfect predator, can kill even the most lethal bacteria. Phage treatment had fallen out of favor almost 100 years ago, after antibiotic use went mainstream. Now, with time running out, Steffanie appealed to phage researchers all over the world for help. She found allies at the FDA, researchers from Texas A&M, and a clandestine Navy biomedical center -- and together they resurrected a forgotten cure. A nail-biting medical mystery, The Perfect Predator is a story of love and survival against all odds, and the (re)discovery of a powerful new weapon in the global superbug crisis. |
| the coming plague laurie garrett: Emerging Viruses Stephen S. Morse, 1996-08-01 New epidemics such as AIDS and mad cow disease have dramatized the need to explore the factors underlying rapid viral evolution and emerging viruses. This comprehensive volume is the first to describe this multifaceted new field. It places viral evolution and emergence in a historical context, describes the interaction of viruses with hosts, and details the advances in molecular biology and epidemiology that have provided the tools necessary to track developing viral epidemics and to detect new viruses far more successfully than could be done in the recent past. This unique book also lucidly details case histories and offers practical suggestions for the prevention of future epidemics. The contributors are leading authorities in their disciplines, and were selected both for their expert knowledge and for their ability to define and elucidate the fundamental issues. The book is highly accessible and has been written for a wide audience that includes virologists, public health authorities, medical anthropologists, evolutionary biologists, geneticists, infectious disease specialists, and social scientists interested in medical and health issues. |
| the coming plague laurie garrett: Betrayal of Trust Laurie Garrett, 2003 This is a study of global public health. Plague, pollution and prostitution are all examined in turn. The author shows how basic trust in public health systems has collapsed and how our global public health system has been systematically destroyed. |
word choice - I am cumming or I am coming - English Language …
Feb 7, 2015 · will cum, will come, cummed, came, is cumming, is coming, have cum, have come. Because only a few of the standard recognized resources (dictionaries) describe these words …
adjectives - When should I use next, upcoming and coming?
Apr 28, 2021 · "in coming months" "in the next few months" (this may suggest more immediacy than other options, but not necessarily) "in the upcoming months" (this is awkward and …
future time - "Will come" or "Will be coming" - English Language ...
Jun 4, 2016 · I will be coming tomorrow. The act of "coming" here is taking a long time from the speaker/writer's point of view. One example where this would apply is if by "coming" the …
usage - have someone come or coming? - English Language …
May 13, 2023 · We have journalists coming from all over the world. If you were to swap this for the present tense along with the present participle, the situation changes. It makes the reader …
Coming vs. Going - English Language Learners Stack Exchange
Aug 19, 2020 · Indeed, "immigration" and "coming to a new country" are closely aligned. The problem is that your example sentence seems to be spoken by an omniscient narrator who …
Is coming or comes - English Language Learners Stack Exchange
Jul 20, 2021 · A movie timetable is a future arrangement, and it would be normal and natural to use present continuous in this situation. This is re-enforced by idiom. Movie trailers often say …
present tense - Do you come? Are you coming? - English …
Are you coming? is a complete question asking whether someone will join you in your travels. The same applies in your next two sentences. Are you coming with me? (correct) Do you come …
word usage - Why "coming up"? Why not simply "coming"?
May 28, 2019 · The phrase "coming up" can also be sued to mean "happening soon, as in . The Fourth of July is coming up. In this sense "coming" could also be used, but "coming up" …
Usage and meaning of "Up next" and “Coming up next"
Oct 14, 2017 · They both mean the same thing; "up next" is just a shorter way of saying "coming up next." You are correct in thinking that something is coming after something. The thing that …
word usage - using "next" to days of the week - English Language ...
Apr 13, 2017 · Edit: Inspired by comments, the closest next Saturday can also be identified as "this coming Saturday", and the next following Saturday, as "Saturday week" or (as I learned …
word choice - I am cumming or I am coming - English Language …
Feb 7, 2015 · will cum, will come, cummed, came, is cumming, is coming, have cum, have come. Because only a few of the standard recognized resources (dictionaries) describe these words …
adjectives - When should I use next, upcoming and coming?
Apr 28, 2021 · "in coming months" "in the next few months" (this may suggest more immediacy than other options, but not necessarily) "in the upcoming months" (this is awkward and …
future time - "Will come" or "Will be coming" - English Language ...
Jun 4, 2016 · I will be coming tomorrow. The act of "coming" here is taking a long time from the speaker/writer's point of view. One example where this would apply is if by "coming" the …
usage - have someone come or coming? - English Language …
May 13, 2023 · We have journalists coming from all over the world. If you were to swap this for the present tense along with the present participle, the situation changes. It makes the reader …
Coming vs. Going - English Language Learners Stack Exchange
Aug 19, 2020 · Indeed, "immigration" and "coming to a new country" are closely aligned. The problem is that your example sentence seems to be spoken by an omniscient narrator who …
Is coming or comes - English Language Learners Stack Exchange
Jul 20, 2021 · A movie timetable is a future arrangement, and it would be normal and natural to use present continuous in this situation. This is re-enforced by idiom. Movie trailers often say …
present tense - Do you come? Are you coming? - English …
Are you coming? is a complete question asking whether someone will join you in your travels. The same applies in your next two sentences. Are you coming with me? (correct) Do you come …
word usage - Why "coming up"? Why not simply "coming"?
May 28, 2019 · The phrase "coming up" can also be sued to mean "happening soon, as in . The Fourth of July is coming up. In this sense "coming" could also be used, but "coming up" …
Usage and meaning of "Up next" and “Coming up next"
Oct 14, 2017 · They both mean the same thing; "up next" is just a shorter way of saying "coming up next." You are correct in thinking that something is coming after something. The thing that …
word usage - using "next" to days of the week - English Language ...
Apr 13, 2017 · Edit: Inspired by comments, the closest next Saturday can also be identified as "this coming Saturday", and the next following Saturday, as "Saturday week" or (as I learned …
