Viruses Plagues And History

Author : Michael B. A. Oldstone
Publisher : Oxford University Press, USA
Page : 513 pages
File Size : 42,8 Mb
Release : 2020
Category : Medical
ISBN : 9780190056780

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Viruses, Plagues, and History by Michael B. A. Oldstone Pdf

"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"--

Author : Heather E. Quinlan
Publisher : Visible Ink Press
Page : 810 pages
File Size : 48,9 Mb
Release : 2020-11-01
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9781578597369

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Plagues, Pandemics and Viruses by Heather E. Quinlan Pdf

Pandemics can come in waves—like tidal waves. They change societies. They disrupt life. They end lives. As far back as 3000 B.C.E. (the Bronze Age), plagues have stricken mankind. COVID-19 is just the latest example, but history shows that life continues. It shows that knowledge and social cooperation can save lives. Viruses are neither alive nor dead and are the closest thing we have to zombies. Their only known function is to replicate themselves, which can have devastating consequences on their hosts. Most, but not all, bacteria are good for us. Some are truly horrific, including those that caused the bubonic, pneumonic, and septicemic plagues. And viruses and bacteria are always morphing, evolving, and changing, making them hard to treat. Plagues, Pandemics, and Viruses: From the Plague of Athens to Covid 19 is an enlightening, and sometimes frightening, recounting of the destruction wrought by disease, but it also looks at what man has done and can do to overcome even the deadliest and bleakest of contagions. More than two years in the making, author Heather E. Quinlan was deep into her research and writing when COVID hit. She quickly saw the similarities to plagues from the past. Plagues, Pandemics, and Viruses: From the Plague of Athens to Covid 19 not only covers the history, causes, medical treatments, human responses, and aftermath of the world’s biggest pandemics, but it also draws parallels to the present. It chronicles the diseases that have inflicted man throughout the millennia, including ... The differences (and similarities) between COVID-19 and other coronaviruses The bubonic plague/black plague, which wiped out 30% to 60% of Europe’s population The devastation to the indigenous population during the European colonization of the Americas The 1918 Spanish Flu, which did not come from Spain How disease “inspired” The Canterbury Tales, Wuthering Heights, the pop art of Keith Haring, and other art and literature AIDS’ “patient zero” How climate change will affect future pandemics The aftermath of various pandemics Several modern diseases making a comeback ... and much, much more. Along with investigating some of history’s most notorious pandemics and diseases, Plagues, Pandemics, and Viruses takes a look at human resilience and what we’ve learned from the past. It looks at how science, the medical community, and governments have conquered or mitigated most epidemics even before they can turn into pandemics. It reviews the science of pandemics, preventative measures, and medical interventions and it includes an exclusive interview with Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, as well as other experts in the medical community. Richly illustrated, it also has a helpful bibliography and extensive index. This invaluable resource is designed to help you understand, and protect you from, plagues, pandemics, epidemics, viruses, and disease!

Author : Michael B. A. Oldstone
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 400 pages
File Size : 52,7 Mb
Release : 2020-08-01
Category : Medical
ISBN : 9780190056803

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Viruses, Plagues, and History by Michael B. A. Oldstone Pdf

More people were killed by smallpox during the twentieth century--over 300 million--than by all of the wars of that period combined. In 1918 and 1919, influenza virus claimed over 50 million lives. A century later, influenza is poised to return, ongoing plagues of HIV/AIDS and hepatitis infect millions, and Ebola, Zika, and West Nile viruses cause new concern and panic. The overlapping histories of humans and viruses are ancient. Earliest cities became both the cradle of civilization and breeding grounds for the first viral epidemics. This overlap is the focus of virologist/immunologist Michael Oldstone in Viruses, Plagues and History. Oldstone explains principles of viruses and epidemics while recounting stories of viruses and their impact on human history. This fully updated second edition includes engrossing new chapters on hepatitis, Zika, and contemporary threats such as the possible return of a catastrophic influenza, and the impact of fear of autism on vaccination efforts. This is a fascinating panorama of humankind's longstanding conflict with unseen viral enemies, both human successes--such as control of poliomyelitis, measles, smallpox and yellow fever, and continued dangers--such as HIV and Ebola. Impeccably researched and accessibly written, Viruses, Plagues and History will fascinate all with an interest in how viral illnesses alter the course of human history.

Author : Kyle Harper
Publisher : Princeton University Press
Page : 704 pages
File Size : 53,5 Mb
Release : 2021-10-12
Category : History
ISBN : 9780691224725

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Plagues upon the Earth by Kyle Harper Pdf

A sweeping germ’s-eye view of history from human origins to global pandemics Plagues upon the Earth is a monumental history of humans and their germs. Weaving together a grand narrative of global history with insights from cutting-edge genetics, Kyle Harper explains why humanity’s uniquely dangerous disease pool is rooted deep in our evolutionary past, and why its growth is accelerated by technological progress. He shows that the story of disease is entangled with the history of slavery, colonialism, and capitalism, and reveals the enduring effects of historical plagues in patterns of wealth, health, power, and inequality. He also tells the story of humanity’s escape from infectious disease—a triumph that makes life as we know it possible, yet destabilizes the environment and fosters new diseases. Panoramic in scope, Plagues upon the Earth traces the role of disease in the transition to farming, the spread of cities, the advance of transportation, and the stupendous increase in human population. Harper offers a new interpretation of humanity’s path to control over infectious disease—one where rising evolutionary threats constantly push back against human progress, and where the devastating effects of modernization contribute to the great divergence between societies. The book reminds us that human health is globally interdependent—and inseparable from the well-being of the planet itself. Putting the COVID-19 pandemic in perspective, Plagues upon the Earth tells the story of how we got here as a species, and it may help us decide where we want to go.

Author : John Aberth
Publisher : Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Page : 256 pages
File Size : 55,9 Mb
Release : 2011-01-16
Category : History
ISBN : 1442207965

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Plagues in World History by John Aberth Pdf

Plagues in World History provides a concise, comparative world history of catastrophic infectious diseases, including plague, smallpox, tuberculosis, cholera, influenza, and AIDS. John Aberth considers not only their varied impact but also the many ways in which people have been able to influence diseases simply through their cultural attitudes. Our ability to alter disease, even without modern medical treatments, is even more crucial lesson now that AIDS, swine flu, multidrug-resistant tuberculosis, and other seemingly incurable illnesses have raged worldwide. The author's comparative analysis of how different societies have responded in the past to disease illuminates what cultural approaches have been and may continue to be most effective in combating the plagues of today.

Author : Roger Webber
Publisher : CABI
Page : 177 pages
File Size : 48,6 Mb
Release : 2015-10-28
Category : Medical
ISBN : 9781780646824

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Disease Selection by Roger Webber Pdf

Disease Selection: The way disease changed the world explores the host-pathogen relationship and the way communicable diseases have evolved often to stay one step ahead of interventions. From sexually transmitted disease through to ancient and modern great plagues, parasites, food, zoonoses, climate change and populations, this book explores the way disappeared and emergent diseases have shaped our world just as much as nature has. This book provides key information and is a valuable resource for students, practitioners and researchers working in global health and anyone interested in understanding of the basis of disease.

Author : Didier Raoult,Michel Drancourt
Publisher : Springer Science & Business Media
Page : 226 pages
File Size : 52,7 Mb
Release : 2008-01-24
Category : Science
ISBN : 9783540758556

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Paleomicrobiology by Didier Raoult,Michel Drancourt Pdf

This fascinating new volume comes complete with color illustrations and features the methodology and main achievements in the emerging field of paleomicrobiology. It’s an area research at the intersection of microbiology and evolution, history and anthropology. New molecular approaches have already provided exciting results, such as confirmation of a single biotype of Yersinia pestis as the cause of historical plague pandemics. An absorbing read for scientists in related fields.

Author : William McNeill
Publisher : Anchor
Page : 370 pages
File Size : 40,9 Mb
Release : 2010-10-27
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9780307773661

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Plagues and Peoples by William McNeill Pdf

The history of disease is the history of humankind: an interpretation of the world as seen through the extraordinary impact—political, demographic, ecological, and psychological—of disease on cultures. "A book of the first importance, a truly revolutionary work." —The New Yorker From the conquest of Mexico by smallpox as much as by the Spanish, to the bubonic plague in China, to the typhoid epidemic in Europe, Plagues and Peoples is "a brilliantly conceptualized and challenging achievement" (Kirkus Reviews). Upon its original publication, Plagues and Peoples was an immediate critical and popular success, offering a radically new interpretation of world history. With the identification of AIDS in the early 1980s, another chapter was added to this chronicle of events, which William McNeill explores in his introduction to this edition. Thought-provoking, well-researched, and compulsively readable, Plagues and Peoples is essential reading—that rare book that is as fascinating as it is scholarly, as intriguing as it is enlightening.

Author : Arno Karlen
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
Page : 276 pages
File Size : 54,5 Mb
Release : 1996-05-22
Category : Science
ISBN : 9780684822709

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Man and Microbes by Arno Karlen Pdf

A noted medical historian places recent outbreaks of deadly diseases in historical perspective, with accounts of other alarming and recurring diseases throughout history and of the ways in which humans have adapted. Reprint. 17,500 first printing.

Author : Frank Ryan
Publisher : Back Bay Books
Page : 448 pages
File Size : 47,6 Mb
Release : 1998-09-23
Category : Science
ISBN : 0316763063

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Virus X by Frank Ryan Pdf

AIDS, Ebola, "mad cow disease," "flesh-eating" viruses...Today's newspapers are full of articles about new plagues & viruses. Where do these new viruses come from? Why do new plagues arise? Could there be - will there be - a lethal & incurable Virus X that spreads as easily as the common cold? The author, a renowned authority on diseases, presents a radical theory about the origin of deadly microbes in a book that takes us into the "hot zones" of today's most dangerous viral outbreaks, then into the research labs & hospitals where doctors & scientists are risking their lives trying to control them.

Author : Marilyn J. Roossinck,Carl Zimmer
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 0 pages
File Size : 48,7 Mb
Release : 2016-08-24
Category : Viruses
ISBN : 1782403264

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Virus by Marilyn J. Roossinck,Carl Zimmer Pdf

Viruses are the last frontier of undiscovered life on our planet. The most abundant type of organism on Earth, they infect all types of cellular life, and, as micro-organisms that cause disease in their hosts, they are highly opportunistic and relentlessly efficient. They exist at the vanguard of DNA variance, exhibiting more structural diversity than plants, animals, archaea, or even bacteria. This 21st-century guide offers an engaging introductory section explaining exactly what viruses are and how they operate, followed by individual profiles of 101 of the world's most notable examples, each with its own dazzling mugshot

Author : Michael B. A. Oldstone
Publisher : Oxford University Press, USA
Page : 244 pages
File Size : 54,7 Mb
Release : 2000
Category : Medical
ISBN : 0195134222

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Viruses, Plagues, and History by Michael B. A. Oldstone Pdf

Oldstone presents a vivid history of a fascinating field, focusing on the most famous viruses humanity has battled: smallpox, polio, measles, yellow fever, and the new, unconquered strains of Ebola, Hantavirus, mad cow disease, and AIDS. 56 illustrations.

Author : Andrew Nikiforuk
Publisher : Penguin
Page : 262 pages
File Size : 40,7 Mb
Release : 1996
Category : Environmentally induced diseases
ISBN : 0140256105

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The Fourth Horseman by Andrew Nikiforuk Pdf

Author : Pete Moore
Publisher : Viking
Page : 144 pages
File Size : 46,8 Mb
Release : 2006
Category : Communicable diseases
ISBN : 0670070807

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The Essential Handbook of Epidemics, Viruses and Plagues by Pete Moore Pdf

The three greatest killers in human historyhave not been war, famine, or natural disaster. They have been influenza, Black Death and AIDS. In the face of anxiety about an avian flu outbreak, The Essential Handbook of Epidemics, Viruses and Plagues puts it all in context. A concise and compelling insight into 50 of the most virulent and vicious plagues, pandemics and infectious diseases known to medical science, this is your guide book to diseases of the past and present with some warnings about the future.

Author : Milton W. Taylor
Publisher : Springer
Page : 430 pages
File Size : 43,8 Mb
Release : 2014-07-21
Category : Medical
ISBN : 9783319077581

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Viruses and Man: A History of Interactions by Milton W. Taylor Pdf

Milton Taylor, Indiana University, offers an easy-to-read and fascinating text describing the impact of viruses on human society. The book starts with an analysis of the profound effect that viral epidemics had on world history resulting in demographic upheavals by destroying total populations. It also provides a brief history of virology and immunology. Furthermore, the use of viruses for the treatment of cancer (viral oncolysis or virotherapy) and bacterial diseases (phage therapy) and as vectors in gene therapy is discussed in detail. Several chapters focus on viral diseases such as smallpox, influenza, polio, hepatitis and their control, as well as on HIV and AIDS and on some emerging viruses with an interesting story attached to their discovery or vaccine development. The book closes with a chapter on biological weapons. It will serve as an invaluable source of information for beginners in the field of virology as well as for experienced virologists, other academics, students, and readers without prior knowledge of virology or molecular biology.