Flu : The Story of the Great Influenza Pandemic of 1918 and the Search for the Virus That Caused It

by Gina Kolata

• ISBN13: 9780374157067
• ISBN10: 0374157065
• Format: Trade Book
• Copyright: 1999-11-19
• Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Summary

The fascinating, 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.

Author Biography

Gina Kolata is a science reporter for The New York Times and the author of Clone: The Road to Dolly and Sex in America. She lives in Princeton, New Jersey.

Table of Contents

Prologue	ix
1. The Plague Year	3	(32)
2. A History of Disease and Death	35	(20)
3. From Sailors to Swine	55	(30)
4. A Swedish Adventurer	85	(36)
5. Swine Flu	121	(30)
6. A Litigation Nightmare	151	(36)
7. John Dalton's Eyeballs	187	(32)
8. An Incident in Hong Kong	219	(24)
9. From Alaska to Norway	243	(38)
10. Mysteries and Hypotheses	281	(26)
Acknowledgments	307	(2)
Notes	309	(12)
Index	321