The Viral Storm: The Dawn Of A New Pandemic Age (2011) - Plot & Excerpts
What a jarring, eye-opening look into the world of infectious diseases by virologist Dr. Wolfe, and especially timely now, with the largest Ebola epidemic in world history striking Africa and making its unprecedented entry into the U.S. This book is basically broken down into layman's terms, which Dr. Wolfe makes clear early on, that he will use terminology that frames his points often in a general way. He covers a lot of ground, discussing the microbial world and what that means in terms of animals, food, infection, and how that affects the human species.There are some basics that this book establishes about how diseases is spread. What may seem obvious, is that large population growth goes hand-in-hand with the emergence of disease; for example, malaria is almost exclusive to West and Central Africa, and has almost always been. As one might expect, also, cooking food properly reduces harmful microbes, but does not eliminate all danger - and food is _not_ always cooked properly in far-away lands, largely related to economics. Finally, wild animals are a key concern when it comes to infectious diseases. While domestic animals may have less dangerous microbes as their wild counterparts, humans can still act as a sort-of bridge between the two groups of animals in terms of infection; domestication via genus and species, after all, is a human concept that viruses do not necessarily respect or have any awareness of.In fact, key in this virulent world is the role wild animals play in the spread of disease. Take, for example, the case of rabies, which is well-known to be spread by animals to humans. In fact, there are zero cases of rabies being spread from human-to-human, outside of an infected organ transplant. That is rather remarkable to think about, but goes a long way to comprehending the relationship of disease, mankind, and animalkind.This takes us to the topic du jour -- Ebola. Ebola is of course notorious for the violent, horrific side effects it causes its hosts, and resulting in a near-100% rapid fatality rate without some form of treatment. It is believed to have originated from wild bats and is likely still evolving into an even deadlier disease, which is terrifying. However, Dr. Wolfe makes a salient point (that a certain U.S. Commander-in-Chief seems to want to ignore for unknown reasons): isolation is absolutely key in containing and limiting the spread of Ebola. When Ebola outbreaks have occurred in Africa, blocking travel has rendered the spread of the disease to a standstill. Why travel from affected African countries into the U.S. has not been prevented is baffling, and could absolutely result in disaster very quickly. Transportation is a serious threat in disease-spreading, no matter its name. With the prevalence of HIV, Dr. Wolfe suggests that diseases could mutate and infect weakened HIV-caused immunosuppression, resulting in microbes adapting to human physiology even easier. In other words, dangerous microbes that have never encountered weak healthy ones now will. Fascinating is the study of how the influenza virus season was "delayed" after 9/11 when travel bans were put into place (and, France, for example, that didn't impose a ban encountered no such delay, nor was there a delay in subsequent times following the lifting of the travel ban). All the more reason to use limiting of travel at times of dangerous outbreaks, as the evidence seems crystal clear on the subject.I wanted to write as full a review as I could, to demonstrate how informative this book is. I found it to be an incredible read and an educational one, too. It really is comprehensive in every way and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend to anyone wanting to better acquaint themselves with a newsworthy, but also frightening, topic. The Viral Storm is a simplified overview of infectious diseases with a focus on a system for future tracking and prevention of pandemics. If you're already into viruses, there's not a ton of new info, except about what Nathan Wolfe has been up to -- he'd love to tell you about all the awesome things he does. The author doesn't seem to be fear mongering unless you count the rosy way he describes using NSA surveillance for virus and terrorist tracking (they promise that they're only making you safer). While understand his goals, I can't help but wish I'd read a book with a more concentrated focus and a deeper look into the topic presented.
What do You think about The Viral Storm: The Dawn Of A New Pandemic Age (2011)?
It provided good information (informative), but was hard to keep my interest.
—Khushi
2011Well written. I'd like to go back and read it in more detail later.
—Rob
Interesting and basic overview of pandemics. At times overly repetitive.
—Tuesfaylynn3
Many non-fiction books claim to be suspenseful - this one is right.
—gumball
