Flu: The Story of the Great Influenza Pandemic of 1918 and the Search for the Virus That Caused it.

thumbnail

List Price: £7.89 (GBP)
  • Lowest New Price: £5.08
  • Lowest Used Price: £0.47
  • Lowest Collectible Price: £20.00
  • Total New: 18
  • Total Used: 37
  • Total Collectible: 1
  • Total Refurbished: 0
  • Author : Gina Kolata
  • Binding : Paperback
  • EAN : 9780743203982
  • ISBN : 0743203984
  • Label : Touchstone Books,U.S.
  • Languages : Original Language: English, Published: English
  • Manufacturer : Touchstone Books,U.S.
  • Number Of Items : 1
  • Number Of Pages : 352
  • Package Dimensions : 0.86 inches (Height) x 8.40 inches (Length) x 0.81 pounds (Weight) x 5.45 inches (Width)
  • Product Group : Book
  • Publication Date : 2001-01-01
  • Publisher : Touchstone Books,U.S.
  • SKU : ACOUK_book_new_0743203984
  • Studio : Touchstone Books,U.S.

Feeling tired, achy and congested? You'll hope not after reading science writer Gina Kolata's engrossing Flu, a fascinating look at the 1918 epidemic that wiped out around 40 million people in less than a year. This tragedy, just on the heels of World War I and far more deadly, so traumatised the survivors that few would talk about it afterward. Kolata reports on the scientific investigation of this bizarre outbreak, in particular the attempts to sequence the virus's DNA from tissue samples of victims. She also looks at the social and personal effects of the disease, from improved public health awareness to the loss of productivity. (The disease affected 20 to 40-year-olds disproportionately.)How could this disease, now almost trivial to healthy young people, have become so virulent? The answer is complex, invoking epidemiology, immunology and even psychology, but Kolata cuts a swath through medical papers and statistical reports to tell a story of an out-of-control virus exploiting an exhausted world on the brink of transition into modern society. Through letters, interviews and news reports, she pieces together a cautionary tale that captures the horror of a devastating illness. Research marches onward, but we're still at the mercy of something as simple as the flu. --Rob Lightner, Amazon.com

- Amazon.co.uk Review

Leave a Comment:

(required)

(will not be published) (required)

Copyright © 1999-2012 Data Growth Pty Ltd. All rights reserved.
Privacy Policy | Terms of Use |