Living with ENZA

'Never since the Black Death has such a plague swept over the face of the world,' commented the Times, '[and] never, perhaps, has a plague been more stoically accepted.' Between the summer of 1918 and the spring of 1919 a deadly strain of influenza claimed the lives of 228,000 Britons. Worldwide the death toll from the Great Flu was simply incomprehensible with as many as 100 million dead, according to some estimates. As one doctor's son from Lancashire recalled, 'People collapsed in their homes, in the streets and at work! All treatment was futile.' Yet for all that this 'plague' decimated cities and communities across Britain, the pandemic hardly warrants a mention in the biographies and autobiographies of prominent people who lived through the outbreaks. Based on unpublished testimonies from flu survivors and the memoirs of doctors, soldiers and civil servants, this is the fascinating true story of Britain's 'forgotten' pandemic and the continuing scientific effort to unravel the secrets of the virus. For though the Great Flu has receded from public memory the threat of pandemic influenza has not gone away. Perhaps the next pandemic will come in 2012, or perhaps it will come sooner. Perhaps it will start in China, as several experts have been predicting for some years now, or perhaps the seat of the next outbreak will be Bangladesh. Whatever the case, we need to be ready. A new pandemic is a question of 'when, not if,' says Britain's Chief Medical Officer Sir Liam Donaldson. 'We can't make this pandemic go away, because it's a natural phenomenon, it will come.'

ISBN 0230217745   Pages 256 ISBN13 9780230217744 (What's this?)   Volumes 001 Publisher Palgrave Macmillan   Weight (grammes) 349 Imprint Palgrave Macmillan   Published in Basingstoke Format Hardback   Height (mm) 207 Publication date 30 Oct 2008   Width (mm) 135 Library of Congress RA644   Spine width (mm) 21 DEWEY 614.518094109041   Academic level Undergraduate, Postgraduate, Professional / Scholarly DEWEY edition DC22

		List of figures
ch. 1		influenza: a primer		3
ch. 2		prelude: Etaples, winter 1916-1918		18
ch. 3		first wave, March-August 1918		35
ch. 4		second wave, September-December 1918		65
ch. 5		third wave, January-May 1919		107
ch. 6		Vietnam, February 2005		153
ch. 7		Britain, Summer 2012		179
		biographical postscript		206
		notes		212
		selected bibliography		224
		index		228

'In this book Mark Honigsbaum shows how the history of medicine can inform policymaking today.' - Times Online 'Read this book to understand what happened to a country caught up in both a war and a disease that killed millions worldwide, led by variously competent civil servants whose responses, or lack of them, have some worrying parallels with UK pandemic plans today.' - New Scientist 'Journalist Mark Honigsbaum's new book offers a vivid account of the pandemic. It reflects on what could have been done to avert the disaster and what should be done about future pandemics.' - Nature 'A chastening read, but mercifully level-headed' - Financial Times 'Very informative and easy to read' - Irish Times 'The book is at its most powerful when it links the events at home in Britain to those on the war front that formed the backdrop to the three waves of the pandemic' - British Medical Journal 'The book succeeds in its aims and is especially recommended for its recovery of the public and medical experience, for its reflections on popular memory, and for its innovative interweaving of past, present and future...The great strength and originality of the book is the way it captures the everyday experience of the disease, from the suffering and neglect of the poor, to the care given to the prime minister, David Lloyd George.' - Michael Worboys, BBC History Magazine '...a vivid account of the pandemic.' - Michael Sargent, Nature '...[a] wonderfully evocative narrative...It is to Honigsbaum's credit that he so seamlessly interweaves the scientific and the social history of influenza. His volume teaches us much about the virus and reminds us why influenza is still much in the news.' - The Lancet '...a timely warning of what could be around the corner. It's difficult to encourage people to buy books that are going to depress them - but this should be the exception to the rule.' - popularscience.co.uk 'I read this book at a great pace. The frequent use of first hand accounts gives it a welcome human dimension...I recommend it to anyone who doubts the seriousness of the pandemic flu threat and who has a critical interest in the actions taken by government in our name.' - Patrick Nicholson, Peace News

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