The Threat of Pandemic Influenza

The Threat of Pandemic Influenza
Author: Institute of Medicine
Publisher: National Academies Press
Total Pages: 431
Release: 2005-04-09
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 0309095042

Public health officials and organizations around the world remain on high alert because of increasing concerns about the prospect of an influenza pandemic, which many experts believe to be inevitable. Moreover, recent problems with the availability and strain-specificity of vaccine for annual flu epidemics in some countries and the rise of pandemic strains of avian flu in disparate geographic regions have alarmed experts about the world's ability to prevent or contain a human pandemic. The workshop summary, The Threat of Pandemic Influenza: Are We Ready? addresses these urgent concerns. The report describes what steps the United States and other countries have taken thus far to prepare for the next outbreak of "killer flu." It also looks at gaps in readiness, including hospitals' inability to absorb a surge of patients and many nations' incapacity to monitor and detect flu outbreaks. The report points to the need for international agreements to share flu vaccine and antiviral stockpiles to ensure that the 88 percent of nations that cannot manufacture or stockpile these products have access to them. It chronicles the toll of the H5N1 strain of avian flu currently circulating among poultry in many parts of Asia, which now accounts for the culling of millions of birds and the death of at least 50 persons. And it compares the costs of preparations with the costs of illness and death that could arise during an outbreak.

World Health Statistics 2009

World Health Statistics 2009
Author: World Health Organization
Publisher: World Health Organization
Total Pages: 150
Release: 2009
Genre: Communicable diseases
ISBN: 9241563818

World Health Statistics 2009 contains WHO's annual compilation of data from its 193 member states, and includes a summary of progress towards the health-related millennium development goals and targets. This edition also contains a new section on reported cases of selected infectious diseases. It provides a comprehensive summary of the current status of national health and health systems including; mortality and burden of disease, causes of death, reported infectious diseases, health service coverage, risk factors, health systems resources, health expenditures, inequities and demographic and socioeconomic statistics. The section on inequities presents statistics on the distribution of selected health outcomes and interventions within countries, disaggregated by sex, age, urban and rural settings, wealth, and educational level. WHO presents World Health Statistics 2009 as an integral part of its ongoing effort to inform better measures of population health and national health systems.

Covid-19 Unmasked: The News, The Science, And Common Sense

Covid-19 Unmasked: The News, The Science, And Common Sense
Author: Winfried Just
Publisher: World Scientific
Total Pages: 408
Release: 2021-03-11
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 9811233616

How can we keep up with the deluge of information about COVID-19 and tell which parts are most important and trustworthy?We read: 'Scientists recommend', 'Experts warn', 'A new model predicts'. How do scientific experts come up with their recommendations? What do their predictions really mean for us, for our friends, and our families?How can we make rational decisions? And how can we have sensible conversations about the pandemic when we disagree?These are the questions that this book is trying to address.It is written in the form of dialogues. Alice, a student of epidemiology, explains the science to three of her fellow students who have a lot of questions for her. The students have the same concerns that we all share to varying degrees: What the pandemic is doing to our health, our economy, and our cherished freedoms. In their conversations, they discover how the science relates to these questions.The book focuses on epidemiology, the science of how infections spread and how the spread can be mitigated. The science of how many infections can be prevented by certain kinds of actions. This is what we need to understand if we want to act wisely, as individuals and as a society.The author's goal is to help the reader think about the COVID-19 pandemic like an epidemiologist. About the various preventive measures, what they are trying to accomplish, what the obstacles are. About what is likely to be most effective in the long run at moderate economic and personal cost. About the likely consequences of personal decisions. About how to best protect oneself and others while allowing all of us to lead lives that are as close as possible to normal.While some chapters present slightly more advanced material than others, no scientific background is needed to follow the conversations. The technical concepts are explained in small steps and the occasional calculations in the book require only high-school mathematics.Related Link(s)

Flu

Flu
Author: Gina Kolata
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Total Pages: 378
Release: 2011-04-01
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1429979356

Veteran journalist Gina Kolata's Flu: The Story of the Great Influenza Pandemic of 1918 and the Search for the Virus That Caused It presents a fascinating look at true story of the world's deadliest disease. In 1918, the Great Flu Epidemic felled the young and healthy virtually overnight. An estimated forty million people died as the epidemic raged. Children were left orphaned and families were devastated. As many American soldiers were killed by the 1918 flu as were killed in battle during World War I. And no area of the globe was safe. Eskimos living in remote outposts in the frozen tundra were sickened and killed by the flu in such numbers that entire villages were wiped out. Scientists have recently rediscovered shards of the flu virus frozen in Alaska and preserved in scraps of tissue in a government warehouse. Gina Kolata, an acclaimed reporter for The New York Times, unravels the mystery of this lethal virus with the high drama of a great adventure story. Delving into the history of the flu and previous epidemics, detailing the science and the latest understanding of this mortal disease, Kolata addresses the prospects for a great epidemic recurring, and, most important, what can be done to prevent it.

Pandemic Bioethics

Pandemic Bioethics
Author: Gregory E. Pence
Publisher: Broadview Press
Total Pages: 258
Release: 2021-05-20
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 177048809X

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected every human being on the planet and forced us all to reflect on the bioethical issues it raises. In this timely book, Gregory Pence examines a number of relevant issues, including the fair allocation of scarce medical resources, immunity passports, tradeoffs between protecting senior citizens and allowing children to flourish, discrimination against minorities and the disabled, and the myriad issues raised by vaccines.

Breathless

Breathless
Author: David Quammen
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 448
Release: 2023-10-17
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 1982164379

"The story of the worldwide scientific quest to decipher the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, trace its source, and make possible the vaccines to fight the Covid-19 pandemic"--Provided by publisher.

The Coronaviridae

The Coronaviridae
Author: Stuart G. Siddell
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 424
Release: 2013-06-29
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 1489915311

Coronaviruses were recognized as a group of enveloped, RNA viruses in 1968 and accepted by the International Committee on the Taxonomy of Viruses as a separate family, the Coronaviridae, in 1975. By 1978, it had become evident that the coronavirus genomic RNA was infectious (i. e. , positive strand), and by 1983, at least the framework of the coronavirus replication strategy had been per ceived. Subsequently, with the application of recombinant DNA techniques, there have been remarkable advances in our understanding of the molecular biology of coronaviruses, and a mass of structural data concerning coronavirus genomes, mRNAs, and pro teins now exists. More recently, attention has been focused on the role of essential and accessory gene products in the coronavirus replication cyde and a molecular analysis of the structure-function relation ships of coronavirus proteins. Nevertheless, there are still large gaps in our knowledge, for instance, in areas such as the genesis of coronavirus subgenomic mRNAs or the function of the coronavirus RNA-dependent RNA polymerase. The diseases caused by coronaviruses have been known for much longer than the agents themselves. Possibly the first coronavirus-related disease to be recorded was feline infectious peritonitis, as early as 1912. The diseases associ ated with infectious bronchitis virus, transmissible gastroenteritis virus, and murine hepatitis virus were all well known before 1950.

Coronaviruses

Coronaviruses
Author: Helena J. Maier
Publisher: Humana
Total Pages: 278
Release: 2021-09-08
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 9781071609026

This detailed new edition provides a comprehensive collection of protocols applicable to all members of the Coronavirinae sub-family currently and that are also transferrable to other fields of virology. Beginning with a section on detection, discovery, and evolution, the volume continues with coverage of propagation and titration of coronaviruses, genome manipulation, study of virus-host interactions, as well as imaging coronavirus infections. Written for the highly successful Methods in Molecular Biology series, chapters include introductions to their respective topics, lists of the necessary materials and reagents, step-by-step, readily reproducible laboratory protocols, and tips on troubleshooting and avoiding known pitfalls. Authoritative and cutting-edge, Coronaviruses: Methods and Protocols, Second Edition serves as a valuable guide to researchers working to identify and control viruses with increased potential to cross the species barrier and to develop the diagnostics, vaccines, and antiviral therapeutics that are required to manage future outbreaks in both humans and animals.

Understanding Coronavirus

Understanding Coronavirus
Author: Raul Rabadan
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 167
Release: 2021-10-14
Genre: Science
ISBN: 1009086650

Since the identification of the first cases of the coronavirus in December 2019, there has been a significant amount of confusion regarding the origin and spread of the so-called 'coronavirus', SARS-CoV-2, and the cause of the disease COVID-19. Conflicting messages from the media and officials across different countries and organizations, the abundance of disparate sources of information, unfounded conspiracy theories on the origins of the virus, unproven therapies, and inconsistent public health measures, have all served to increase anxiety in the population. Where did the virus come from? How is it transmitted? How does it cause disease? Is it like flu? What is a pandemic? In this concise and accessible introduction, a leading expert provides answers to these commonly asked questions. This revised and updated edition now also covers how the virus mutates, how important these mutations are, how vaccines work, and what we can expect in the near and long-term future.

The Great Influenza

The Great Influenza
Author: John M. Barry
Publisher: Penguin
Total Pages: 580
Release: 2005-10-04
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780143036494

#1 New York Times bestseller “Barry will teach you almost everything you need to know about one of the deadliest outbreaks in human history.”—Bill Gates "Monumental... an authoritative and disturbing morality tale."—Chicago Tribune The strongest weapon against pandemic is the truth. Read why in the definitive account of the 1918 Flu Epidemic. Magisterial in its breadth of perspective and depth of research, The Great Influenza provides us with a precise and sobering model as we confront the epidemics looming on our own horizon. As Barry concludes, "The final lesson of 1918, a simple one yet one most difficult to execute, is that...those in authority must retain the public's trust. The way to do that is to distort nothing, to put the best face on nothing, to try to manipulate no one. Lincoln said that first, and best. A leader must make whatever horror exists concrete. Only then will people be able to break it apart." At the height of World War I, history’s most lethal influenza virus erupted in an army camp in Kansas, moved east with American troops, then exploded, killing as many as 100 million people worldwide. It killed more people in twenty-four months than AIDS killed in twenty-four years, more in a year than the Black Death killed in a century. But this was not the Middle Ages, and 1918 marked the first collision of science and epidemic disease.