Download or read book A Planet of Viruses written by Carl Zimmer and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2015-10-06 with total page 133 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For years, scientists have been warning us that a pandemic was all but inevitable. Now it's here, and the rest of us have a lot to learn. Fortunately, science writer Carl Zimmer is here to guide us. In this compact volume, he tells the story of how the smallest living things known to science can bring an entire planet of people to a halt--and what we can learn from how we've defeated them in the past. Planet of Viruses covers such threats as Ebola, MERS, and chikungunya virus; tells about recent scientific discoveries, such as a hundred-million-year-old virus that infected the common ancestor of armadillos, elephants, and humans; and shares new findings that show why climate change may lead to even deadlier outbreaks. Zimmer’s lucid explanations and fascinating stories demonstrate how deeply humans and viruses are intertwined. Viruses helped give rise to the first life-forms, are responsible for many of our most devastating diseases, and will continue to control our fate for centuries. Thoroughly readable, and, for all its honesty about the threats, as reassuring as it is frightening, A Planet of Viruses is a fascinating tour of a world we all need to better understand.
Download or read book World of Viruses written by Judy Diamond and published by U of Nebraska Press. This book was released on 2012-09-01 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Introduces well-known threats like foot and mouth disease, HIV, the flu, and HPV, as well as the lesser-known but helpful role that viruses play in saving global ecosystems from out-of-control blooms of algae.
Download or read book The End of October written by Lawrence Wright and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2021-04-27 with total page 401 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Looming Tower—a riveting thriller and “all-too-convincing chronicle of science, espionage, action and speculation” (The Wall Street Journal). At an internment camp in Indonesia, forty-seven people are pronounced dead with acute hemorrhagic fever. When epidemiologist Henry Parsons travels there on behalf of the World Health Organization to investigate, what he finds will have staggering repercussions. Halfway across the globe, the deputy director of U.S. Homeland Security scrambles to mount a response to the rapidly spreading pandemic leapfrogging around the world, which she believes may be the result of an act of biowarfare. And a rogue experimenter in man-made diseases is preparing his own terrifying solution. As already-fraying global relations begin to snap, the virus slashes across the United States, dismantling institutions and decimating the population. With his own wife and children facing diminishing odds of survival, Henry travels from Indonesia to Saudi Arabia to his home base at the CDC in Atlanta, searching for a cure and for the origins of this seemingly unknowable disease. The End of October is a one-of-a-kind thriller steeped in real-life political and scientific implications, filled with the insight that has been the hallmark of Wright’s acclaimed nonfiction and the full-tilt narrative suspense that only the best fiction can offer.
Download or read book The Threat of Pandemic Influenza written by Institute of Medicine and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2005-04-09 with total page 431 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.
Download or read book Spillover Animal Infections and the Next Human Pandemic written by David Quammen and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2012-10 with total page 591 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A masterpiece of science reporting that tracks the animal origins of emerginghuman diseases.
Download or read book The Domestic and International Impacts of the 2009 H1N1 Influenza A Pandemic written by Institute of Medicine and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2010-07-04 with total page 440 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In March and early April 2009, a new, swine-origin 2009-H1N1 influenza A virus emerged in Mexico and the United States. During the first few weeks of surveillance, the virus spread by human-to-human transmission worldwide to over 30 countries. On June 11, 2009, the World Health Organization (WHO) raised the worldwide pandemic alert level to Phase 6 in response to the ongoing global spread of the novel influenza A (H1N1) virus. By October 30, 2009, the H1N1 influenza A had spread to 191 countries and resulted in 5,700 fatalities. A national emergency was declared in the United States and the swine flu joined SARS and the avian flu as pandemics of the 21st century. Vaccination is currently available, but in limited supply, and with a 60 percent effectiveness rate against the virus. The story of how this new influenza virus spread out of Mexico to other parts of North America and then on to Europe, the Far East, and now Australia and the Pacific Rim countries has its origins in the global interconnectedness of travel, trade, and tourism. Given the rapid spread of the virus, the international scientific, public health, security, and policy communities had to mobilize quickly to characterize this unique virus and address its potential effects. The World Health Organization and Centers for Disease Control have played critical roles in the surveillance, detection and responses to the H1N1 virus. The Domestic and International Impacts of the 2009-H1N1 Influenza A Pandemic: Global Challenges, Global Solutions aimed to examine the evolutionary origins of the H1N1 virus and evaluate its potential public health and socioeconomic consequences, while monitoring and mitigating the impact of a fast-moving pandemic. The rapporteurs for this workshop reported on the need for increased and geographically robust global influenza vaccine production capacities; enhanced and sustained interpandemic demand for seasonal influenza vaccines; clear "triggers" for pandemic alert levels; and accelerated research collaboration on new vaccine manufacturing techniques. This book will be an essential guide for healthcare professionals, policymakers, drug manufacturers and investigators.
Download or read book The War Against Viruses written by Aileen Burford-Mason and published by HarperCollins. This book was released on 2021-05-18 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In March 2020, the World Health Organization designated the viral disease COVID-19 a pandemic. Dr. Aileen Burford-Mason’s new book, The War Against Viruses, explains how we can help reduce the risk and severity of COVID-19 infection. But it goes beyond this, showing how staying well in general, and avoiding winter colds and flus in particular, is possible with optimal nutrition. When operating efficiently, the immune system represents biological teamwork at its best: a symphony of protective cells and biomolecules acting together to rapidly recognize potentially harmful microbes and eliminate them. The orchestration of this complex system depends on a continuous and ample supply of essential components—vitamins, minerals, beneficial fats and other nutrients—to function properly. But a growing body of research shows that the nutritional content of our food has sharply declined over the course of the last century. As the use of high-yield industrial farming practices has increased, so the nutritional content has decreased. The War Against Viruses shows how without a rounded intake of essential nutrients our immune response may be compromised, especially during emergencies. The book provides evidence-based advice on how to recognize gaps in our nutritional arsenal. Dr. Burford-Mason creates a personal supplement regime that can overcome potential dietary shortfalls by strengthening our immune response to infection, thus helping to reduce the potential for lethal illness.
Download or read book Viruses Plagues and History written by Michael B. A. Oldstone and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2020 with total page 513 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Here, my previous edition of Viruses, Plagues, & History is updated to reflect both progress and disappointment since that publication. This edition describes newcomers to the range of human infections, specifically, plagues that play important roles in this 21st century. The first is Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), an infection related to Sudden Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS). SARS was the first new-found plague of this century. Zika virus, which is similar to yellow fever virus in being transmitted by mosquitos, is another of the recent scourges. Zika appearing for the first time in the Americas is associated with birth defects and a paralytic condition in adults. Lastly, illness due to hepatitis viruses were observed prominently during the second World War initially associated with blood transfusions and vaccine inoculations. Since then, hepatitis virus infections have afflicted millions of individuals, in some leading to an acute fulminating liver disease or more often to a life-long persistent infection. A subset of those infected has developed liver cancer. However, in a triumph of medical treatments for infectious diseases, pharmaceuticals have been developed whose use virtually eliminates such maladies. For example, Hepatitis C virus infection has been eliminated from almost all (>97%) of its victims. This incredible result was the by-product of basic research in virology as well as cell and molecular biology during which intelligent drugs were designed to block events in the hepatitis virus life-cycle"--
Download or read book How to Prevent the Next Pandemic written by Bill Gates and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2022-05-03 with total page 235 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Governments, businesses, and individuals around the world are thinking about what happens after the COVID-19 pandemic. Can we hope to not only ward off another COVID-like disaster but also eliminate all respiratory diseases, including the flu? Bill Gates, one of our greatest and most effective thinkers and activists, believes the answer is yes. The author of the #1 New York Times best seller How to Avoid a Climate Disaster lays out clearly and convincingly what the world should have learned from COVID-19 and what all of us can do to ward off another catastrophe like it. Relying on the shared knowledge of the world’s foremost experts and on his own experience of combating fatal diseases through the Gates Foundation, Gates first helps us understand the science of infectious diseases. Then he shows us how the nations of the world, working in conjunction with one another and with the private sector, how we can prevent a new pandemic from killing millions of people and devastating the global economy. Here is a clarion call—strong, comprehensive, and of the gravest importance.
Download or read book The Viral Storm written by Nathan Wolfe and published by Macmillan. This book was released on 2011-10-11 with total page 319 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The "Indiana Jones" of virus hunters reveals the complex interactions between humans and viruses, and the threat from viruses that jump from species to species"-- Provided by publisher.
Download or read book Pandemic Influenza Preparedness and Response written by World Health Organization and published by World Health Organization. This book was released on 2009 with total page 62 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This guidance is an update of WHO global influenza preparedness plan: the role of WHO and recommendations for national measures before and during pandemics, published March 2005 (WHO/CDS/CSR/GIP/2005.5).
Download or read book Essential Human Virology written by Jennifer Louten and published by Academic Press. This book was released on 2022-05-28 with total page 412 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Essential Human Virology, Second Edition focuses on the structure and classification of viruses, virus transmission and virus replication strategies based upon type of viral nucleic acid. Several chapters focus on notable and recognizable viruses and the diseases caused by them, including influenza, HIV, hepatitis viruses, poliovirus, herpesviruses and emerging and dangerous viruses. Additionally, how viruses cause disease (pathogenesis) is highlighted, along with discussions on immune response to viruses, vaccines, anti-viral drugs, gene therapy, the beneficial uses of viruses, research laboratory assays and viral diagnosis assays. Fully revised and updated with new chapters on coronaviruses, nonliving infectious agents, and notable non-human viruses, the book provides students with a solid foundation in virology. - Focuses on human diseases and the cellular pathology that viruses cause - Highlights current and cutting-edge technology and associated issues - Presents real case studies and current news highlights in each chapter - Features dynamic illustrations, chapter assessment questions, key terms, and a summary of concepts, as well as an instructor website with lecture slides, a test bank and recommended activities - Updated and revised, with new chapters on coronaviruses, nonliving infectious agents, and notable non-human viruses
Download or read book Viruses written by Dorothy H. Crawford and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2018 with total page 177 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Viruses are big news. From pandemics such as HIV, swine flu, and SARS, we are constantly being bombarded with information about new lethal infections. In this Very Short Introduction, Dorothy Crawford demonstrates from their discovery and the unravelling of their intricate structures, how clever these entities really are.
Download or read book Flu written by Gina Kolata and published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux. This book was released on 2011-04-01 with total page 378 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.
Download or read book Viruses and Human Disease written by Ellen G. Strauss and published by Elsevier. This book was released on 2007-09-21 with total page 476 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Completely revised and updated, the new edition of this groundbreaking text integrates basic virology with pathophysiological conditions to examine the connection between virology and human disease. Most virology textbooks focus on the molecular biology involved without adequate reference to physiology. This text focuses on viruses that infect humans, domestic animals and vertebrates and is based on extensive course notes from James Strauss' virology class at the California Institute of Technology taught for over 30 years. Expertly depicting in color the molecular structure and replication of each virus, it provides an excellent overview for students and professionals interested in viruses as agents of human disease. - Includes over 30% new material - virtually all of the figures and tables have been redrawn to include the latest information and the text has been extensively rewritten to include the most up-to-date information - Includes a new chapter on emerging and reemerging viral diseases such as avian flu, SARS, the spread of West Nile virus across America, and the continuing spread of Nipah virus in Southeast Asia - Further reading sections at the end of each chapter make it easy find key references - World maps depicting the current distribution of existing and newly emerging viruses are also incorporated into the text
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 Virus in the Age of Madness written by Bernard-Henri Lévy and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2020-07-28 with total page 127 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A trenchant look at how the coronavirus reveals the dangerous fault lines of contemporary society With medical mysteries, rising death tolls, and conspiracy theories beamed minute by minute through the vast web universe, the coronavirus pandemic has irrevocably altered societies around the world. In this sharp essay, world-renowned philosopher Bernard-Henri Lévy interrogates the many meanings and metaphors we have assigned to the pandemic—and what they tell us about ourselves. Drawing on the philosophical tradition from Plato and Aristotle to Lacan and Foucault, Lévy asks uncomfortable questions about reality and mythology: he rejects the idea that the virus is a warning from nature, the inevitable result of global capitalism; he questions the heroic status of doctors, asking us to think critically about the loci of authority and power; he challenges the panicked polarization that dominates online discourse. Lucid, incisive, and always original, Lévy takes a bird’s-eye view of the most consequential historical event of our time and proposes a way to defend human society from threats to our collective future.
