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A review by reggikko
Flu: The Story Of the Great Influenza Pandemic of 1918 and the Search for the Virus That Caused It by Gina Kolata
4.0
This book is fascinating as well as sobering in light of the current situation with COVID-19. Reading about the scientific processes for isolating and studying flu viruses in order to better understand the mechanisms of infection and the factors that make one virus fairly innocuous and another a deadly killer taught me some things in regard to immunology and infectious processes.
Of note is the ways in which flu viruses in animals raised for food—specifically poultry and pigs—is a veritable powder keg of infection waiting to make the jump from animals to humans. After reading this book I am fairly confident that scientists will be able to develop a vaccine for COVID-19. The question is: How long will it take and how successful will the virus be in mutating in order to survive?
One very minor quibble, because I’m a picky pedant: I would expect a science writer to know that ferrets are not rodents.
Of note is the ways in which flu viruses in animals raised for food—specifically poultry and pigs—is a veritable powder keg of infection waiting to make the jump from animals to humans. After reading this book I am fairly confident that scientists will be able to develop a vaccine for COVID-19. The question is: How long will it take and how successful will the virus be in mutating in order to survive?
One very minor quibble, because I’m a picky pedant: I would expect a science writer to know that ferrets are not rodents.