BOOKS
Barry, J. The Great Influenza: The Story of the Deadliest Pandemic in History. Penguin Books; 2004, 2005.
This definitive account of the 1918 influenza outbreak is a fascinating historical account of the pandemic. The book centers on the work done at Johns Hopkins and around the world. The pandemic came in waves and circled the globe as it swept through military bases and moved with each deployment of solders during World War I. The story is told from the perspective of the scientists and political leaders, working at a time when the very nature of medicine was changed by this global threat.
The virus may have killed as many as 100 million people worldwide. It killed more people in 24 months than AIDS killed in 24 years. During the winter and spring of 1918, science confronted nature as society began to confront the effects of nature. This book tells the personal stories of the intuitions, physicians, and scientist who battled the disease with science and tenacity. They proceeded down 2 paths: exploring epidemiology and tracing clues in the laboratory.
The natural processes of the virus made it quite lethal. It was suspected that it first jumped from animal to man in Kansas, traveled to an army base in Massachusetts at Fort Devens, and then was transmitted from person to person, adapting to the new host, cycling through densely populated army camps to the general population.
This book weaves together stories of patients, providers, and the public. This disease has survived in memory and science with many lessons learned. Almost all of the people who were alive during the pandemic have now died, yet many recall family loss.
Dr William Welch, founder of Johns Hopkins Medical School, and political leaders lived a sobering lesson of tragedy and medical advancement. The work of the men and women featured in Barry's book created a model for public health management of contagious disease.
John M. Barry has written a new afterword for the most recent edition that brings us up to speed on the new threat of the avian flu and suggests ways in which we might head off another flu pandemic.
Johnson, S. The Ghost Map: The Story of London's Most Terrifying Epidemic- and How It Changed Science, Cities, and the Modern World.
In 1851, Victorian London experienced a cholera outbreak that quickly developed into an epidemic. At the time, germ theory of disease was not widely proven or even considered. Communicable disease was a common foe, and death was often expected when disease entered a home.
This book outlines the details of the epidemic and explains how cholera affects the gastrointestinal system. The author creates a vivid account of life during this time as he describes the efforts of the medical community to track the disease using scientific methods and persistent detective work, a model that still serves today's public health providers. This work continues to guide us as we search for solutions to modern population health issues.
This fascinating story tells us how one committed physician, Dr John Snow, tracked the disease without the benefit of modern epidemiological tools. Snow went door to door in a vulnerable neighborhood, gathering information about who died, and what factors seem to be related to the onset of illness including many common habits of each patient and family members. He asked detailed questions about food and water consumption. He worked from a theory that cholera was transmitted through drinking water. The focus became one public water pump in particular: the now infamous Broad Street pump. The work led Snow's team to discover that a cholera victim's septic tank was leaking into the water supply. The results led to the closure of the Broad Street pump, the avoidance of another cholera outbreak, and the iconic map of cholera deaths from which the book takes its name!
In addition to this central story, Johnson talks about the social challenges of each class of people, living in a city that lacked proper drainage and waste removal. The public health lessons learned during this epidemic guided new rules and regulations that prevented waterborne diseases such as cholera.