Download or read book AIDS and Other Killer Viruses and Pandemics written by Pete Schauer and published by Greenhaven Publishing LLC. This book was released on 2017-12-15 with total page 178 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The 1918 influenza pandemic. The Polio scourge. The AIDS epidemic. The Ebola and Zika outbreaks. Modern history has seen numerous deadly viruses and pandemics that have harmed or killed hundreds of millions of people. And the history is ongoing. The world is facing antibiotic-resistant “superbugs” and infectious diseases tied to climate change, and our previously reliable medicines and treatments no longer always work. What causes these outbreaks, how they spread, and how best to contain and combat them are often open to debate. The most informed opinions from the most respected doctors, researchers, and public health officials are found here, presenting various perspectives on our current and future health and offering both cause for hope and reason to fear.
Download or read book AIDS and Other Killer Viruses and Pandemics written by Pete Schauer and published by Greenhaven Publishing LLC. This book was released on 2017-12-15 with total page 178 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The 1918 influenza pandemic. The Polio scourge. The AIDS epidemic. The Ebola and Zika outbreaks. Modern history has seen numerous deadly viruses and pandemics that have harmed or killed hundreds of millions of people. And the history is ongoing. The world is facing antibiotic-resistant “superbugs” and infectious diseases tied to climate change, and our previously reliable medicines and treatments no longer always work. What causes these outbreaks, how they spread, and how best to contain and combat them are often open to debate. The most informed opinions from the most respected doctors, researchers, and public health officials are found here, presenting various perspectives on our current and future health and offering both cause for hope and reason to fear.
Download or read book Pandemics written by Michelle Denton and published by Greenhaven Publishing LLC. This book was released on 2019-07-15 with total page 104 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As the world becomes more connected, the threat of pandemics becomes more serious, and being informed about fast-spreading illnesses is more important now than ever before. Readers explore global diseases of the past and present, how modern outbreaks are controlled and treated, and how doctors and scientists are working to prevent pandemics in the future. In-depth sidebars, full-color photographs, annotated quotes from medical experts, and discussion questions highlight important topics and encourage readers to expand their critical thinking skills as they learn about public health policy and the social impacts of infectious diseases.
Download or read book What You Need to Know about Infectious Disease written by Madeline Drexler and published by . This book was released on with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Social Impact of AIDS in the United States written by National Research Council and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 1993-02-01 with total page 337 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Europe's "Black Death" contributed to the rise of nation states, mercantile economies, and even the Reformation. Will the AIDS epidemic have similar dramatic effects on the social and political landscape of the twenty-first century? This readable volume looks at the impact of AIDS since its emergence and suggests its effects in the next decade, when a million or more Americans will likely die of the disease. The Social Impact of AIDS in the United States addresses some of the most sensitive and controversial issues in the public debate over AIDS. This landmark book explores how AIDS has affected fundamental policies and practices in our major institutions, examining: How America's major religious organizations have dealt with sometimes conflicting values: the imperative of care for the sick versus traditional views of homosexuality and drug use. Hotly debated public health measures, such as HIV antibody testing and screening, tracing of sexual contacts, and quarantine. The potential risk of HIV infection to and from health care workers. How AIDS activists have brought about major change in the way new drugs are brought to the marketplace. The impact of AIDS on community-based organizations, from volunteers caring for individuals to the highly political ACT-UP organization. Coping with HIV infection in prisons. Two case studies shed light on HIV and the family relationship. One reports on some efforts to gain legal recognition for nonmarital relationships, and the other examines foster care programs for newborns with the HIV virus. A case study of New York City details how selected institutions interact to give what may be a picture of AIDS in the future. This clear and comprehensive presentation will be of interest to anyone concerned about AIDS and its impact on the country: health professionals, sociologists, psychologists, advocates for at-risk populations, and interested individuals.
Download or read book Tinderbox written by Craig Timberg and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2012-03-01 with total page 539 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this groundbreaking narrative, longtime Washington Post reporter Craig Timberg and award-winning AIDS researcher Daniel Halperin tell the surprising story of how Western colonial powers unwittingly sparked the AIDS epidemic and then fanned its rise. Drawing on remarkable new science, Tinderbox overturns the conventional wisdom on the origins of this deadly pandemic and the best ways to fight it today. Recent genetic studies have traced the birth of HIV to the forbidding equatorial forests of Cameroon, where chimpanzees carried the virus for millennia without causing a major outbreak in humans. During the Scramble for Africa, colonial companies blazed new routes through the jungle in search of rubber and other riches, sending African porters into remote regions rarely traveled before. It was here that humans first contracted the strain of HIV that would eventually cause 99 percent of AIDS deaths around the world. Western powers were key actors in turning a localized outbreak into a sprawling epidemic as bustling new trade routes, modern colonial cities, and the rise of prostitution sped the virus across Africa. Christian missionaries campaigned to suppress polygamy, but left in its place fractured sexual cultures that proved uncommonly vulnerable to HIV. Equally devastating was the gradual loss of the African ritual of male circumcision, which recent studies have shown offers significant protection against infection. Timberg and Halperin argue that the same Western hubris that marked the colonial era has hamstrung the effort to fight HIV. From the United Nations AIDS program to the Bush administration's historic relief campaign, global health officials have favored well-meaning Western approaches--abstinence campaigns, condom promotion, HIV testing--that have proven ineffective in slowing the epidemic in Africa. Meanwhile they have overlooked homegrown African initiatives aimed squarely at the behaviors spreading the virus. In a riveting narrative that stretches from colonial Leopoldville to 1980s San Francisco to South Africa today, Tinderbox reveals how human hands unleashed this epidemic and can now overcome it, if only we learn the lessons of the past.
Download or read book Emerging Viral Diseases written by Institute of Medicine and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2015-03-19 with total page 310 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the past half century, deadly disease outbreaks caused by novel viruses of animal origin - Nipah virus in Malaysia, Hendra virus in Australia, Hantavirus in the United States, Ebola virus in Africa, along with HIV (human immunodeficiency virus), several influenza subtypes, and the SARS (sudden acute respiratory syndrome) and MERS (Middle East respiratory syndrome) coronaviruses - have underscored the urgency of understanding factors influencing viral disease emergence and spread. Emerging Viral Diseases is the summary of a public workshop hosted in March 2014 to examine factors driving the appearance, establishment, and spread of emerging, re-emerging and novel viral diseases; the global health and economic impacts of recently emerging and novel viral diseases in humans; and the scientific and policy approaches to improving domestic and international capacity to detect and respond to global outbreaks of infectious disease. This report is a record of the presentations and discussion of the event.
Download or read book Ethical and Legal Considerations in Mitigating Pandemic Disease written by Institute of Medicine and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2007-07-08 with total page 250 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In recent public workshops and working group meetings, the Forum on Microbial Threats of the Institute of Medicine (IOM) has examined a variety of infectious disease outbreaks with pandemic potential, including those caused by influenza (IOM, 2005) and severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) (IOM, 2004). Particular attention has been paid to the potential pandemic threat posed by the H5N1 strain of avian influenza, which is now endemic in many Southeast Asian bird populations. Since 2003, the H5N1 subtype of avian influenza has caused 185 confirmed human deaths in 11 countries, including some cases of viral transmission from human to human (WHO, 2007). But as worrisome as these developments are, at least they are caused by known pathogens. The next pandemic could well be caused by the emergence of a microbe that is still unknown, much as happened in the 1980s with the emergence of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and in 2003 with the appearance of the SARS coronavirus. Previous Forum meetings on pandemic disease have discussed the scientific and logistical challenges associated with pandemic disease recognition, identification, and response. Participants in these earlier meetings also recognized the difficulty of implementing disease control strategies effectively. Ethical and Legal Considerations in Mitigating Pandemic Disease: Workshop Summary as a factual summary of what occurred at the workshop.
Download or read book The AIDS Pandemic written by Michael Merson and published by Springer. This book was released on 2017-09-13 with total page 443 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This ambitious book provides a comprehensive history of the World Health Organization (WHO) Global Programme on AIDS (GPA), using it as a unique lens to trace the global response to the AIDS pandemic. The authors describe how WHO came initially to assume leadership of the global response, relate the strategies and approaches WHO employed over the years, and expound on the factors that led to the Programme’s demise and subsequent formation of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS(UNAIDS). The authors examine the global impact of this momentous transition, portray the current status of the global response to AIDS, and explore the precarious situation that WHO finds itself in today as a lead United Nations agency in global health. Several aspects of the global response – the strategies adopted, the roads taken and not taken, and the lessons learned – can provide helpful guidance to the global health community as it continues tackling the AIDS pandemic and confronts future global pandemics. Included in the coverage: The response before the global response Building and coordinating a multi-sectoral response Containing the global spread of HIV Addressing stigma, discrimination, and human rights Rethinking global AIDS governance UNAIDS and its place in the global response The AIDS Pandemic: Searching for a Global Response recounts the global response to the AIDS pandemic from its inception to today. Policymakers, students, faculty, journalists, researchers, and health professionals interested in HIV/AIDS, global health, global pandemics, and the history of medicine will find it highly compelling and consequential. It will also interest those involved in global affairs, global governance, international relations, and international development.
Download or read book The AIDS Pandemic written by James Chin and published by CRC Press. This book was released on 2018-10-08 with total page 228 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This work includes a foreword by Jeffrey Koplan, Vice President, Academic Health Affairs, Emory University, Atlanta, Formerly Director, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). This groundbreaking new book blows apart the myths about who is at risk of getting AIDS and shows how these myths are driven by moral and political pressures. It provides an objective, logical, clear, epidemiologically based analysis on the current situation and situates itself firmly at marked variance with the politically correct position of UNAIDS and most AIDS activists. "The AIDS Pandemic" argues that the story of HIV has been distorted by UNAIDS and AIDS activists in order to support the myth of the high potential risk of HIV epidemics spreading into the general population. In the past, most policy makers and members of the public have uncritically accepted UNAIDS' high prevalence estimates and projections when in fact lower HIV prevalence estimates are more accurate. Time, money and resources are being wasted worldwide. This book is full of fresh analysis for all people working in any capacity in HIV/AIDS programmes. It will be invaluable to undergraduate and postgraduate healthcare students, health and social care professionals and the international media. Policy makers and shapers will find the pioneering information crucial to the future of the AIDS strategy. 'For close to a half century, my work as a public health epidemiologist has involved field research, program management, and teaching, mostly on public health surveillance and prevention and control of communicable diseases. [Since 1981] I have been involved virtually full time with the international response to the AIDS pandemic which is without question one of the most severe infectious disease pandemics in modern times. During my public health career that began in the early 1960s, I have always been considered a part of conventional or mainstream medical science. However, since the mid-1990s, I have found myself swimming upstream against mainstream AIDS organisations. I have, during this period, gradually come to the realisation that AIDS programs developed by international agencies and faith based organizations have been and continue to be more socially, politically, and moralistically correct than epidemiologically accurate.' - James Chin, in the Preface. 'Controversy and differing opinions have been hallmarks of the AIDS epidemic since its onset. The scope of the problem, how to identify high risk groups without increasing the burden of stigma, the safety of blood products, the best balance between prevention and treatment, have all been hot issues sometimes dividing the public health community. The passion and conflicts about how to consider and address the AIDS pandemic reflect the huge impact this disease has had globally and its interplay with macro economic, legal, social, political, national security and ethical domains. Vital, provocative, thoughtful, direct, passionate, rational and willing to challenge conventional wisdom. "The AIDS Pandemic" is filled with information, rational arguments and opinions, often intermingled. It is a rare book on epidemiology that puts so much of the author's personality and viewpoints, along with his knowledge and experience, before the reader. The result is a thought-provoking, likely-to-be-controversial, contribution to the AIDS literature that should engage and stimulate the reader.' - Jeffrey Koplan, in the Foreword.
Download or read book TIME The Science of Epidemics written by The Editors of TIME and published by Time Inc. Books. This book was released on 2016-04-22 with total page 188 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: TIME’s The Science of Epidemics brings deeper understanding of Ebola and other infectious diseases from plague to polio. TIME takes readers behind the headlines not only to look at what caused Ebola to spread, but how doctors are trying to fight the disease in Africa, what the US and other countries are doing to stop it from spreading and the impact it has on survivors and society. TIME looks into the battle against other diseases as well, including the campaign in Saudi Arabia against MERS—Middle East Respiratory Syndrome—and what doctors and scientists are doing to end the AIDS epidemic. TIME explores the work of virus hunters in the field, report on the new Enterovirus D68 and the ever-present and mutating flu virus, explain how science won the fight against polio, and chronicle the deadliest viruses of all time. Filled with the behind-the-scenes reporting people expect from Time, as well as the publication’s magnificent photography and informative graphics, The Science of Epidemics is a book illuminates what medical researchers and doctors in the field are doing to save millions of lives from deadly diseases.
Download or read book The AIDS Pandemic written by Kenneth H. Mayer and published by Elsevier. This book was released on 2004-12-21 with total page 560 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The AIDS Pandemic explores the ways in which HIV/AIDS has, and continues to transform the wide range of related disciplines it touches. Novel perspectives are provided by a unique panel of internationally recognised experts who cover the unprecedented impact onf AIDS on culture, demographics and politics around the world, including how it affected the worlds' economy, health sciences, epidemiology and public health. This important far- reaching analysis uses the lessons learned from a wide array of disciplines to help us understand the current status and evolution of the pandemic, as it continues to evolve.* Unique and timely presentation of new theories and perspectives* Concentrates on the changes that have taken place in a broad array of related disciplines* Provides key contextual information, for those new to the field or at interface areas between disciplines* Includes an international focus on evolving African and Asian experiences* Focuses on the current strategies for developing vaccines and microbicides* Outlines harm reduction and prevention programs* Explores issues related to delivery of life-saving AIDS medications in resource-constrained environments
Download or read book AIDS and the Doctors of Death written by Alan Cantwell and published by Aries Rising Press. This book was released on 1988 with total page 262 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Pandemics and Global Health written by Facts On File, Incorporated and published by Infobase Publishing. This book was released on 2010 with total page 121 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Examines the impact of globalization on health and disease, providing examples of the diseases that have been eradicated and those that continue to ravage the world's population.
Download or read book Use What You Have Resolving the HIV AIDS Pandemic written by Roger W. Hoerl and Presha E. Neidermey and published by Xlibris Corporation. This book was released on 2009-07-16 with total page 186 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With over 25 million dead, AIDS has pounced on the world like a medieval plague, ranking among the greatest killers in history. Despite billions of international aid dollars, the development of effective medical treatments for HIV (the virus that causes AIDS), and the efficacy of condoms in preventing the spread of HIV during sex, 6,000 people are dying daily, and over 15 million orphans have been left behind. Perhaps most surprisingly, many educated westerners are only vaguely aware of AIDS as a disease threatening gays or Africans, and do not believe it has any relevance for them. Few have noticed the “feminization” of AIDS, taking AIDS from a disease primarily infecting gay men to one infecting more women than men. Women are at the forefront of the fight against AIDS in many parts of the world, nowhere more so than in Sub-Saharan Africa. The authors of this book make a clear case that HIV and AIDS form the most critical crisis facing the human race in this century by providing the reader a deeper understanding of the root causes of, and plausible solutions for, the AIDS pandemic. They include several engaging human-interest stories of real people impacted by AIDS. Table Of Contents Part I: What Is AIDS and Why Should I Care? Chapter 1: Nikiwe’s Story: Why AIDS Is the Global Challenge of the 21st Century Chapter 2: Sinikithemba: What Exactly Are HIV and AIDS? Chapter 3: Say No to Sugar Daddies: From Rare Infections to Global Pandemic Part II: AIDS Trumps Foreign Aid Chapter 4: Life and Death in Zimbabwe: Why AIDS Is Easy to Solve—On Paper Chapter 5: But for the Grace of PEPFAR: The World Heard and Responded Chapter 6: Mama Africa’s Burden: The Limitations of Money Part III: How AIDS Can Be Defeated With Your Help Chapter 7: Bophelong Hospice: Some Things That Actually Work Chapter 8: The Softer Side of Capitalism: A Suggested Path Forward Chapter 9: Use What You Have: How You Can Play a Part in Defeating AIDS Excerpts from the foreword to the book, written by Dr. Helga Holst, CEO of McCord Hospital in Durban, South Africa, are given below: It was in Boston, on February 10, 2003, that the Sinikithemba Choir from Durban, South Africa, performed at the opening of the Tenth Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI), and shared the stage with the keynote speaker, President Bill Clinton. This Zulu choir of HIV positive men and women were part of a much larger group of mostly infected women, who worked together at McCord Hospital on beadwork projects to support their medical care, and who sang as they worked. They used what they had, their powerful and beautiful voices, to bring hope, unity and resources to their communities. One of the choir members, a beautiful and eloquent young woman, shared the poignant story of her own journey with AIDS, and brought tears to the eyes of many of the world’s top scientists, researchers and clinicians as they were reminded of why they had committed their lives to finding the answers to this devastating disease. She shared what she had, her own story, and it impacted the hearts of thousands! By the time I took up the position of Medical Superintendent at McCord Hospital in Durban, in 1993, AIDS was more common, but there was still no affordable treatment available. In the mid 1990’s we started several social support programs, of which the income generating beadwork projects were one. Social clubs, consisting mostly of women, were formed. They supported each other through times of hardship, illness and death, and cared for the children. The Zulu people, amongst whom we work, have been gifted by the most beautiful voices. The women would often sit in the parking areas at the hospital between the cars with their hands speedily busy on beadwork orders, chatting and laughing, while keeping a
Download or read book HIV and AIDS written by Scientific American Editors and published by Scientific American. This book was released on 2012-08-17 with total page 328 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: HIV and AIDS: A Global Health Pandemic by the Editors of Scientific American On June 5, 1981, the scientific community received a wake-up call from the CDC regarding a terrible and mysterious new illness that caused immune system failure. A year passed before it had a name: AIDS. Reported infections skyrocketed while science raced to understand a virus that hid among our own cells and mutated quickly. Three decades later, remarkable progress has been made but much more remains to be understood and to be done. In this book, HIV and AIDS: A Global Health Pandemic, Scientific American chronicles the war against the disease from its discovery by Robert Gallo and Luc Montagnier to the most current research on gene editing and potential drug targets. These articles explore where the disease came from, how it works, how it spreads, the search for a vaccine, and cultural and sociological factors. In this book, you'll find not only a record of crisis and unprecedented response, but also an essential source to understand the scientific struggle against HIV/AIDS.
Download or read book Deadliest Enemy written by Mark Olshaker and published by Little, Brown Spark. This book was released on 2017-03-14 with total page 314 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A leading epidemiologist shares his "powerful and necessary" (Richard Preston, author of The Hot Zone) stories from the front lines of our war on infectious diseases and explains how to prepare for global epidemics -- featuring a new preface on COVID-19. Unlike natural disasters, whose destruction is concentrated in a limited area over a period of days, and illnesses, which have devastating effects but are limited to individuals and their families, infectious disease has the terrifying power to disrupt everyday life on a global scale, overwhelming public and private resources and bringing trade and transportation to a grinding halt. In today's world, it's easier than ever to move people, animals, and materials around the planet, but the same advances that make modern infrastructure so efficient have made epidemics and even pandemics nearly inevitable. And as outbreaks of COVID-19, Ebola, MERS, and Zika have demonstrated, we are woefully underprepared to deal with the fallout. So what can -- and must -- we do in order to protect ourselves from mankind's deadliest enemy? Drawing on the latest medical science, case studies, policy research, and hard-earned epidemiological lessons, Deadliest Enemy explores the resources and programs we need to develop if we are to keep ourselves safe from infectious disease. The authors show how we could wake up to a reality in which many antibiotics no longer cure, bioterror is a certainty, and the threat of a disastrous influenza or coronavirus pandemic looms ever larger. Only by understanding the challenges we face can we prevent the unthinkable from becoming the inevitable. Deadliest Enemy is high scientific drama, a chronicle of medical mystery and discovery, a reality check, and a practical plan of action.
