Dancing with the flu

Author: Gina Kolata
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2003-01-01
Features: This story offers great insights and lessons for preventing and treating SARS. It was a harrowing experience. The 1918 flu pandemic struck overnight, decimating young and healthy people, infecting one-fifth of the global population, and killing tens of millions. The death toll exceeded the combined total of both World Wars. It was a dark chapter in history, with scarce reports and records about the 1918 flu, and people were even reluctant to remember it. It was a battle between humanity and the disease, science and the plague. People moved from fear to evasion, from ignorance to exploration, from blind optimism to cautiousness, and from passive resistance to active immunity, a struggle that continues to this day. Renowned New York Times journalist Gina Kolata has brought us an exhilarating historical account of the fight to unravel the deadly mystery of this virus. From Alaska to Norway, from the streets of Hong Kong to the corridors of the White House, Kolata conducted thorough investigations for this book. It chronicles the efforts of scientists in search of the virus, describes the misguided government policies driven by fear of the plague, recalls the lead-up to and aftermath of the 1918 flu and several other flu pandemics, and provides firsthand insights from the scientific community on flu prevention and treatment. This is a captivating popular science book. Kolata reminds readers that the flu pandemic could recur, urging them to find ways to prevent such tragedies from happening again. Today, healthcare workers and researchers worldwide are racing against the novel "flu" – SARS – striving to identify its source, develop targeted treatments, and quickly develop vaccines. The emergence of SARS tells us that while technology advances, new diseases continue to arise, and humanity's battle against illness will never end. This book chronicles the efforts of scientists in search of the virus, describes the misguided government policies driven by fear of the plague, recalls the lead-up to and aftermath of the 1918 flu and several other flu pandemics, and provides firsthand insights from the scientific community on flu prevention and treatment.