Tuesday, April 25, 2006
I recently finished reading John M. Barry's "The Great Influenza: The Epic Story of the Deadliest Plague in History". This, I am mainly recording for my own reference, as in ten years I will likely have forgot the entire content of the book.
To be quite honest, I was completely ignorant of the influenza. However, just reading part of the Amazon review is sufficient to shock any ignorant soul: "The influenza pandemic of 1918, the worst pandemic in history, killed more people than died in World War I and more than the tens of millions who have died, to date, in the AIDS pandemic".
In Philadelphia, where I studied for one year, 4,597 people died in one week alone. Barry's book tells the amazing story about the pandemic, which is a troubling read these days due to the bird flue and all the potentially lethal diseases that seem to threaten us. However, Barry also gives a lesson in the history of medicine, and it is interesting to read how America was far behind Europe in medical sciences until the late 1800s. Today, the situation is quite the opposite, and only a few European universities are able to compete with the top schools in the United States. Anyway, that is a digression. If you want another reason to be concerned about today's state of affairs, I recommend you read this book. It will make you jump each time you hear someone sneezing on the train.
To be quite honest, I was completely ignorant of the influenza. However, just reading part of the Amazon review is sufficient to shock any ignorant soul: "The influenza pandemic of 1918, the worst pandemic in history, killed more people than died in World War I and more than the tens of millions who have died, to date, in the AIDS pandemic".
In Philadelphia, where I studied for one year, 4,597 people died in one week alone. Barry's book tells the amazing story about the pandemic, which is a troubling read these days due to the bird flue and all the potentially lethal diseases that seem to threaten us. However, Barry also gives a lesson in the history of medicine, and it is interesting to read how America was far behind Europe in medical sciences until the late 1800s. Today, the situation is quite the opposite, and only a few European universities are able to compete with the top schools in the United States. Anyway, that is a digression. If you want another reason to be concerned about today's state of affairs, I recommend you read this book. It will make you jump each time you hear someone sneezing on the train.
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