Outbreaks and Epidemics: Battling Infection in the Modern World

by Meera Senthilingam, Brian Clegg (Series Editor)

For centuries mankind has waged war against the infections that, left untreated, would have the power to wipe out communities, or even entire populations. Yet for all our advanced scientific knowledge, only one human disease – smallpox – has ever been eradicated globally.

In recent years, outbreaks of Ebola and Zika have provided vivid examples of how difficult it is to contain an infection once it strikes, and the panic that a rapidly spreading epidemic can ignite.

But while we chase the diseases we are already aware of, new ones are constantly emerging, initiating a new race to identify them. At the same time, antimicrobial resistance is harnessing infections that we once knew how to control, enabling them to thrive once more.

Meera Senthilingam presents a timely look at humanity’s ongoing battle against infection, examining the successes and failures of the past, along with how we are confronting the challenges of today, and our chances of eradicating disease in the future.

Genres: Science, Nonfiction, History, Audiobook, Health, Biology, Medicine

176 pages, Paperback

First published March 18, 2020

Reviews

[Brian Clegg · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was written before the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak, though it has been updated to include it: it's certainly not any kind of attempt to cash in, but rather a sober reflection on how outbreaks and epidemics work, what process the world has in place to deal with them and how a changing, globalised world has magnified risk.

If I'm honest, I'm not a great fan of medical books, but Meera Senthilingam gives an important introduction to disease outbreaks and epidemics, giving enough detail to make sense of them without ever being too technical for the general reader. This is careful journalism, which can sometimes come across as rather dry, but that's not necessarily a bad thing given the topic.

The book starts by plunging us into the beginnings of the 2003 SARS epidemic, then brings in COVID-19 (as of, by the look of it, around the start of March 2020) and measles before plunging back to smallpox and the origins of vaccination. There is a strong section on disease and politics - which can have a huge impact, for example, where there is a strong antivax movement or suspicion that vaccinations are an attempt to exert control by a foreign power - exploration of transmission routes, and much more. I knew quite a lot of basics, but learned a lot, including about less familiar (to Europe) diseases such as guinea worm and yaws. I also wasn't aware how much some of the ancient diseases like the plague and leprosy were still around, while of course diseases such as malaria remain a huge killer (mosquitos get their own chapter), and some like tuberculosis are resurgent as they become more antibiotic resistant.

It's not a cheerful read, even if the world weren't in the grip of a pandemic, but it is a book that provides very helpful context.

If I have any complaint, there is rather a lot of definition of terms, I would have liked to see more about the possible use of phages with bacterial infections, and it could have done with a few more narrative sections, but Senthilingam does an excellent job of making the risks of epidemics and pandemics clear without ever being sensationalist or patronising.

[Jo_Scho_Reads · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really interesting book about epidemics, listing the different viruses and diseases society has battled with including, of course, the coronavirus. It’s fascinating what goes on behind the scenes to keep these diseases at bay and keep as much of the human population as safe as possible.

The book is set out in 8 different chapters but also broken down into relevant paragraphs within those chapters making it easy to dip in and out of. Also written in layman’s terms so I had no trouble understanding it.

As Covid-19 rages on, this book certainly gives the reader food for thought, and also a huge sense of gratitude to those incredible scientists who, through tireless dedication and hard work, have helped to eradicate and reduce a lot of these diseases from most of our lives.

[Fadillah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Others believe the issue comes down to the fact that the people choosing not to vaccinate are the people who have not borne witness to the ravages of deadly disease. In an opinion piece, Professor Tom Solomon from the Institute of Infection and Global Health at the University of Liverpool argues that 'the whimsical pontification on the extremely small risks of vaccination' is a luxury only available to people in the developed West, where diseases like measles and polio are rarely seen. Solomon explains how families in Asia queue for hours to receive vaccines from the programmes he works on to protect their children from the horror of diseases they have witnessed all too often. When asking whether vaccines should be made compulsory, Solomon gives the examples of numerous precedents that have paved the way for this not to be such an infringing option - proof of yellow fever vaccination for travellers from certain countries in Africa and South America, courts overruling parents refusing life-saving medicines for various reasons including religious beliefs, and even seatbelts being compulsory in cars, despite them potentially causing harm in rare circumstances. 'Faced with the horrors of the diseases they prevent, most people would soon change their minds,' he writes in the Conversation.
- Outbreaks and Epidemics - Battling infection from measles to coronavirus by Meera Seenthilingam
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Out of 163 pages of this book, i dog eared 26 pages. Not saying, i didn’t learn a lot, i did but i expected the book to be like ‘Tracking Contagion by Sonia Shah’ which is far more superior (in my opinion). That being said, I still believe this book can be considered an introductory work for those who’ve wanted to read about outbreaks and epidemics but never got a chance to do so. What i’ve got from this book is ‘Things could have been prevented if’ or ‘We are not facing this mess if’ - as human only eat things that they have knowns safe to consume, drink water from the secure sources of water, using protection while having an intercourse, hygienic practices is being enforced religiously and even being responsible of not travelling while being sick. BUT, it is impossible as for some countries, we are battling ancient tradition of eating bushmeat, then for some countries such as Angola, Chad, Mali and Ethiopia - whereby an access of clean water is scarce forcing them to just get water from wherever source they can find (which proven to be difficult to eradicate guinea worm as the goal year kept on shifting from 1991, then 2009, afterwards 2015 and followed by 2020, besides that Globalisation opened a possibility of travelling to one place to another - making it difficult to track the carrier hence it triggered rapid infection - as to what caused Covid19 (which previously have caused SARS, H1N1 and MERS) . Poverty also is another cause that stopped people from going to the doctor and paid the price for their life. In this new age, while some diseases has been eradicated, misinformation and malicious content about vaccines and its impact , caused the disease to come back like measles and mumps. Anti Vaxxer groups has increased in numbers and has been spreading false news and propaganda in order to stop people from taking the vaccines. They believe it caused autism (one of the many reasons that anti vaccine truly believed) and to certain communities (For example : Muslims in Nigeria and Pakistan) , the hesitancy around vaccines is due to the belief it caused sterilisation. As for comparison between Asian and European Countries, the gap between trusting the vaccines and advice from qualified medical professionals also has been increasing as European started to trust them lesser compared to Asian Counterparts. Vaccines did work but there’s some cases whereby blunder happened and this is where vaccines hesitancy appeared. For example, it happened in 2017 at Philippines which their healthcare department decided to use Dengvaxia to counter Dengue. Long story short, it is linked to the deaths of several kids which ultimately led to criminal investigations. I have also listed some of the points that i found interesting while reading this book below.
1. A person infected with a disease is known as a case. When an outbreak occurs, it begins with the first case noticed by health officials, the person who first indicates the presence of an outbreak, known as the index case. This is not to be confused with the primary case, which is the first person to bring an infection into a group of people or community, but may not be the first person brought to the attention of health officials to signify an outbreak has begun. Which brings us to the most popular word in the field of disease control: outbreak. Officially defined as the 'sud-den appearance of a disease in a specific geographic area or population' by the US Centers for Disease Control, others including WHO expand on this to define it as cases of a disease being 'in excess of what would normally be expected in a defined community, geographical area or season'. For example, a town may see a few cases of measles every now and then, but a sudden group of cases being reported would be an outbreak. With rare diseases, just two linked cases could be sufficient to be called an outbreak. The next step up from an outbreak would be an epidemic, which carries the same definition regarding there being more cases of a disease than would be expected, but typically applies across a larger geographical area and often involves the rapid spread of the disease or issue across a population.
2. Today's anti-vaxxers endorse vaccine hesitancy, the reluctance or refusal to vaccinate, citing a diverse range of reasons using multiple platforms, depending on their audience, creating a complex obstacle for health officials to overcome. The movement itself has been around for centuries, stemming as far back as the first vaccinations against small-pox. In the nineteenth century, posters were often seen telling people not to get vaccinated because of the associated dangers. But the modern voices of this minority are louder, stronger and now digital, recruiting new members in greater swathes and causing the return of vaccine-preventable diseases such as measles, which, as we have seen, caused unexpected outbreaks in almost every region of the world in 2018 and 2019. Globally, there has been a 30 per cent rise in measles cases, with an estimated 140,000 deaths in 2018, and although the reasons are complex, most experts believe vaccine hesitancy is in large part to blame.
3. The record to date is held by a Nigerian man who had 84 worms emerge in one year, explains Hopkins, adding that in south-eastern Nigeria, communities once referred to the disease as the 'silent magistrate', because people dreaded waiting to see what sentence would be handed out to them by the disease that year. To further highlight the point, dracunculiasis is Latin for 'affliction with little dragons'. The origins of Guinea worm stem far back in history, to biblical and Egyptian times. Ancient Egyptian medical texts show evidence of the worm's existence and the 'fiery serpents' sent to attack the Israelites in the Bible are considered to have been Guinea worms. The worms have also been found in mummies dating back to approximately 1000 BC. Now, more than 3,000 years later, they are on the brink of extinction, as efforts to eradicate the disease have been very successful.
4. Nipah and Lassa fever are the other two diseases being focused on first, both of which are spread by animals - bats and rats - as well as between people and both of which have a significant burden today, in Asia and West Africa respect-ively. All three diseases have no treatments and are only controlled though prevention measures. Vaccines are now being prioritized, with several candidates at the research stage. However, 'you could question whether those are the right targets', says Dr David Heymann, Professor of Infectious Disease Epidemiology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. He highlights that none of these three chosen diseases spreads particularly easily between humans, meaning they 'probably won't ever cause a major outbreak'. They spread most easily from the animals that carry the viruses, meaning you may have to focus the vaccination efforts on communities that live alongside these animals, such as rats in the case of Lassa, or on the animals themselves, such as camels in the case of MERS.
5. Diseases originating in wildlife represent a significant threat to global health, with one 2017 paper adding that zoonoses threaten security and economic growth, making them a public health priority. A prime example of the potential damage they pose is the 2003 SARS pandemic, thought to have been present in civets before the virus adapted to be able to spread between humans, infecting more than 8,000 people worldwide. The ongoing HIV epidemic, resulting in almost 38 million people living with HIV in 2018, is a result of a virus first found in monkeys that crossed over to infect humans. Lassa fever is an example of a seasonal zoonotic disease that affects many West African countries during the winter months (December to March) each year. Infections spread through contact with food or objects contaminated by the urine or faces of infected rats, and poorer members of society are at most risk as they are more likely to come into contact with rats scavenging for food in their homes. Molecular testing suggests the hemorrhagic disease has been circulating in Nigeria for more than 1,000 years. The examples go on; MERS-CoV, Nipah virus, monkey-pox and rabies are also zoonoses. Even our household cats carry the risk of toxoplasmosis, a parasitic disease affecting pregnant women and people with suppressed immune sys-tems: this can occur if cats eat infected rodents or birds and then shed cysts in their faces, which humans then come into contact with either directly or through soil containing the faeces. The biggest challenge is that even today, little is understood about how zoonoses spread and develop, particularly as most of the experts in the field are kept busy reacting to outbreaks that have already emerged, leaving little time to understand or predict new ones.
6. According to the Microbiology Society, the first antibiotic in this sense was the chemical arsphenamine, discovered by the German physician Paul Ehrlich as a treatment for syphilis in 1909. But the real game changer was the discovery of penicillin by Alexander Fleming in 1928, which would go on to become the first mass-produced antibiotic. Nicknamed 'the wonder drug, penicillin was soon used widely across the globe and led the way for the discovery of many more classes of antibiotics, such as fluoroquinolones and tetracyclines, each of which was, importantly, used to treat a wide range of infections, not just one or two. Their blanket use meant these drugs formed the backbone of modern medicine, treating everything from respiratory and chest infections, such as tuberculosis, to meningitis, septicaemia, urinary tract infections and acne, to name just a few.
7. The airborne respiratory virus has four types: A, B, C, and D, with the first two being the cause of seasonal epidemics and type A causing the greatest burden. Type A further divides up into subtypes, based on the combinations of two proteins found on its surface, haemagglutinin and neuraminidase, examples being A(HIN1), which circulates every year, but a version of which was behind the 2009 swine flu pandemic. Type C is less common and when it does arise, causes mild illness, meaning it is not a public health prior-ity, while type D is known to infect cattle, not humans, for now. A mix of type A and type B viruses circulate at any one time and they change over time, due to genetic mutations and gene reassortment, meaning we see different strains of the virus types each flu season. This explains why people need to get vaccinated every year, as a new vaccine will have been developed to match the strains currently circulating. In fact, the vaccine is updated twice a year, for flu seasons in the northern and southern hemisphere, which occur six months apart.
8. In 1997, we saw the first human case of Avian influenza (bird flu). A three-year-old boy died in Hong Kong from a strain of H5N1 Avian influenza, which had been detected in geese and chickens the year before. This was the first known case of the H5N1 virus jumping from birds into humans and it went on to infect several people in Hong Kong and around the world. There were over 250 cases and 150 deaths in at least 55 countries. The arrival of this cross-species infection was indeed something to worry about, as was the spread of cases globally, but the infection required prolonged contact with infected birds and did not pass easily between humans, making rapid spread unlikely. The world did not see a global pandemic of H5N1, but it was on edge waiting for one.
9. Ebola was still largely considered a disease of rural Africa, local to the continent's forested regions. That is, until December 2013, when an eighteen-month old baby would change the worldview, as an index case bringing Ebola to a new region, West Africa, and an unsuspecting population, where the virus would go on to infect tens of thousands of people, soon eliciting global panic. The baby boy, whose name has not been revealed, developed a mysterious illness that caused him to develop a fever, black stools and vomiting on 26 December 2013 in the village of Meliandou, Guinea, located near the country's borders with Liberia and Sierra Leone. He died two days later and three weeks after that, several of his family members developed similar symptoms and also promptly died. Midwives, traditional healers and staff at the nearest hospital who treated the baby also died. A chain reaction had kicked off, soon infecting members of the boy's extended family who had either taken care of the infirm or attended their funerals, reaching four sub-districts within weeks and the capital city, Conakry, on 1 February 2014. At first it was considered a mysterious disease that had spread silently, knocking down everyone in its path for months as district health officials scrambled to understand what it was. The country's Ministry of Health raised an alert on 13 March 2014 and the mystery was finally solved, naming the outbreak as Ebola virus disease nine days after that. This was the first time Ebola had reached West Africa, meaning it took officials a while to realize what they were dealing with, allowing the contagious disease to spread across Guinea, then the region, infecting over 28,000 people. Liberia and Sierra Leone would prove to be the worst hit, with more than 10,000 and 14,000 cases respectively.
10. Some diseases have fully effective vaccines available, such as polio, measles and mumps, and others have partially effective vaccines available, such as seasonal influenza, for which seasonal vaccines reduce the risk of contracting the flu by up to 60 per cent. But the majority of diseases, particularly new and emerging diseases, either do not have a vaccine or have some options still at the research stage, not advanced enough for use. For diseases that are spread from person to person and have effective vaccines to hand, a key part of control efforts at the population level involves mass vaccination in order to reach the herd immunity threshold. This is a level at which a disease pathogen can no longer spread throughout a population - a herd of people - because enough of them are protected by the vaccine to block the pathogen transmitting to the number of people it needs to reach in order to survive. Its chain of transmission is blocked. The threshold varies for different diseases as it depends on how contagious the disease is. For example, measles is extremely contagious, as one infected person could transmit their infection, on aver-age, to between twelve and eighteen unprotected people, while polio is less infectious, with an infected person able to spread the virus, on average, to between five and seven unprotected people. Measles therefore requires greater coverage of a vaccine throughout a population or community to stop transmission, resulting in a herd immunity threshold of approximately 95 per cent.
Overall, this is a concise work. It is brief but it gave readers enough information to get a gist of what is outbreaks and epidemics. I would recommend this if you know nothing at all about polio, ebola, guinea worm or even Lyme disease (just to name a few what has been listed in the book).

[Krystelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Please note this is a 3.5.

When facing the worst possible circumstances, I find it hard to bury my head in the sand and ignore them, so as a preface and a warning, you will be seeing some more pandemic adjacent reading from me in coming weeks. This book was an interesting insight into some of the diseases and infections that still plague our world today, even after decades of attempted containment and eradication. It’s shortish, and it doesn’t go into as much detail about symptoms and other such matters as it could, but it does give a decent primer on pandemics and the global handling of such matters.

I feel like the biggest takeaway from this book is that we’re not safe, and we never have been. Sure, we have the illusion of safety (which Covid19 has jarred us from) but humans, as high as we build our cities, are still vulnerable to things that cannot even be seen with the human eye. We owe it to ourselves and to future generations to put as much as we can into the research that helps to keep us safe from our invisible enemies, so that we don’t needlessly lose lives.

[Amber · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very accessible intro to the topic but also quite repetitive.

[Shelbycat · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of repetition but on the whole very useful and interesting.

[Dr. Dima · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a newly published and timely book/summary about public health issues and efforts to control a range of infectious diseases. The book starts by explaining some definitions such as the difference between outbreak, epidemic, and pandemic; latent period vs incubation period; zoonosis; herd immunity; and how infections are borne. Subsequent chapters cover a variety of topics including the influence of politics and anti-vaxxers on attempts to control the spread of pathogens; old diseases such as TB and Polio; emerging diseases such as Zika and SARS; vector-borne diseases transmitted by mosquitoes (with a focus on dengue and Zika); and zoonotic diseases such as Ebola and the flu. The book also discusses the growing problem of antimicrobial resistance and ends by comparing elimination and eradication strategies with examples from yaws, HIV, and malaria.⁣
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The book is short and succinct (too succinct for me), and feels like it has been rushed to publication, with very little coverage of COVID-19. In my opinion, the first 2 chapters are disjointed and do not flow well. But the book does get better later on. The sections covering vector-borne diseases (chapter 5), Ebola and the flu (chapter 7) were my favourite, although they still lacked depth. Furthermore, there's no reference to studies that are cited throughout the book.⁣
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Overall, the book is an easy straightforward read. It is informative and short and might suit readers seeking to learn some public health aspects of selected infectious diseases.⁣

[Tezar Yulianto · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kendala yang dihadapi manusia dalam menghadapi wabah dan pandemi:
- orang yang tidak percaya terhadap wabah
- antivax
- perusakan lingkungan, mengakibatkan penghilangan tempat tinggal hewan, mengakibatkan mudahnya penyakit zoonisis menyerang manusia dari hewan
- virus & bakteri yang semakin resisten terhadap obat-obatan
- penderita tidak bergejala, tak sadar dia memiliki penyakit, tapi bisa menularkan
- mutasi bakteri & virus
- wabah yang menurun tetiba melonjak kembali
- politik kesehatan 🥺

[Thomas Edmund · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book might be a little technical and dry for many, but if like me you really want to quickly increase your knowledge in epidemics, including Covid-19, and heathcare and political responses this is the book for you.

The quick tome covers various diseases and concerns with a focus on modern illness, and some pretty interesting insights into diseases such as Zika, Dengue Fever, and other (some horrible) illnesses that we're fighting.

Highly recommended

[Jerry Jenkins · Rating 4 out of 5]

My actual rating for this book is a 4.25/5. It detailed the terminology, processes, complications, and associations of disease outbreaks in easy to understand language while keeping the writing technical enough for more informed readers to still enjoy. The only reasons I did not review this book 5 stars is that, near the end of the book, the writing felt formulaic, and I felt that the biology of the diseases was not touched on enough (although this is a nitpick). I recommend this book to anyone looking to delve into the nature and response of epidemics.

[Ece · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thief book from Meera S. was highly eye-opening. Even though medicine is one of my interests, I saw in the course of reading the book that how many illnesses, be it viral, bacterial, caused by funghi or parasites, we are unaware of. Even if it is roaming the earth as we speak, unaware, we think of virus and bacteria as ancient beings, which only cause mild infections and seasonal flu.

„Outbreaks and Epidemics“ showed me also how we are helpless against most diseases, as them being not only circulated by us but also from animals (zoonoses), by vectors (mostly mosquitoes) and/or from unclean water sources. It made me grateful that I do not have to fight with infections every day, not being able to find a clean water source and at least having the opportunity to maybe help out one day.

In that matter, the book was inspiring, as the author included also a lot of experts’ opinions on how we can actually not only save ourselves from these invisible enemies, but also the world. I will most definitely take the advice given, and as far as my efforts go, I will do everything I can to help out the world in that matter, in the future!

Thanks toi the author for writing such a book, the terms were rather explained than left out in the open, and I had fun while reading. Can’t wait to read your other books!

[Nick Davies · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really interesting - this was a concise yet not oversimplified examination of epidemiology, public health and associated aspects of infectious disease, and made for a good read. Though a lot was not new to me (due to my undergraduate degree in microbiology) there was plenty which was a useful reminder of stuff I had learned, as well as a more up-to-date discussion of emerging concerns such as antibiotic resistance, COVID, zika, sexually transmitted diseases and lot more. The author did a very good job imho.

[Mardi · Rating 4 out of 5]

A brilliant insight into the world of disease. Written layman terms it is easy to understand. A poignant topic for the current environment 4/5

[Grace Hennessey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very informative with a lot of great info but not the most engaging listen.

[Rina · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was timely. I had to admit that I wouldn’t have been interested in this particular topic had it not been for Covid 19.

I did a quick skim through recently released titles covering the topic of Covid 19. As expected, a lot of them were products of rushed jobs by authors and publishing companies wishing to cash out given the trend. This book wasn’t immune to this phenomenon, but I would say it was more properly written than a lot of them.

Aside from the fact that Covid 19 was mostly only covered in the Introduction, and subsequent chapters only had sprinkles of the topic, the book did cover outbreaks and epidemics in the world from different aspects. And I did learn a few things from this book.

[Ivy-Mabel Fling · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is (understandably) not focused to any great extent on the present pandemic but is interesting to read, particularly as it talks a lot about illnesses that are largely ignored in the west, like yaws and leprosy. I learnt quite a bit. It takes a very scientific approach, so will not appeal to those who, for whatever reason, would consider themselves anti-vaxxers.

[Maxime Lenormand · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting read on the status of infectious diseases out there currently, why they are still around and what are the challenges in handling them. These days are a weird time to read about epidemics, yet help understand the situation. This books is part of the ways to see the bigger picture

[Sam Still Reading · Rating 4 out of 5]

This year I’ve decided to make epidemics and pandemics one of my topics to read about. (I’m sure you can understand why. For me, knowledge is power). I came across this succinct book in a local bookshop, one of a series called ‘Hot Science’. (There are some other cool titles in the series, such as big data, behavioural economics and gene editing). It’s a great idea to get your head around new topics and learn about science in an interesting way. I’m sure this won’t be the last book I read in the series.

Outbreaks and Epidemics is not just about COVID-19. In fact, the majority of the book is about other epidemics and pandemics, from SARS to Ebola to monkeypox. Don’t think you’re getting a book entirely about COVID-19 – we are living that book now! What’s great about this book is that it doesn’t take a purely scientific look at infectious diseases and epidemics but it involves the responses and politics involved. I felt this was a great idea as it explains how different countries respond to infectious threats and why they may not act as the public expects. The book also touched on some different diseases that haven’t been covered by other infectious disease books I’ve read this year, such as monkeypox and Guinea worm (don’t read this section while eating). I would have liked to know more, but this book isn’t designed for that. (Who knows, it might be covered by other infectious diseases in my pile to read!)

The book is easy to read if you’re not a scientist. The author explains concepts really well. If you are a scientist, you will still learn things and other parts will be a good refresher. I think overall Outbreaks and Epidemics helps the reader to realise that COVID-19 is just one pandemic in a long line, and it won’t be the last either.

http://samstillreading.wordpress.com.au

[Malaika · Rating 3 out of 5]

Generally well researched, I do however have a few points which I wanted to make:

The book does not discuss socioeconomic reasons why some diseases in ‘developing countries’ soar. Instead of putting the responsibility on the people that need water and thus drink stagnant water or need food and thus eat bushmeat, it could be an opportunity to highlight why these problems exist instead of placing blame.

Also the sometimes borderline islamophobic, ableist and antisemitic comments made leave a bitter taste in the mouth. This book was well researched, but it shows that the author only talked to western ‘experts’ and used western resources. It is also disappointing that the author put on such a huge focus on keeping diseases out of Europe and the US instead of also trying to do the same in the global south. Also ignoring the fact that illnesses have not always been imported by the global south to the global north. In fact historically especially Europe has had a dark past of infecting many indigenous populations with diseases stemming from Europe…. This is a nice basic book on general knowledge of infections, but far from exhaustive and it feels quite haughty at times from top down. And while Sars Cov 2 was included in the book after publication, it definitely does not give a good overview on the most recent pandemic which is still ongoing, so I would suggest reading other books on that subject for example: the viral underclass.

[Rob B · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating book which certainly puts into context some of the challenges we still face. With only smallpox effectively eradicated it is astounding what still happens around the World.

Tuberculosis - a disease from history, right? Wrong. 10 million people fell ill with it and 2 million died in 2018. If you catch it you have to have 6 months worth of treatment to get better.

Leprosy? 79.6% of cases occur in three countries : India, Brazil and Indonesia. There were 208,000 new cases registered (across a total of 127 countries) in 2018.

And that's assuming that these things that we can do don't stop due to the widescale trend of antimicrobial resistance...

For the layman with a cursory interest in epidemiology this is a great, yet worrisome, read.

[Samwell Raleigh · Rating 3 out of 5]

A decent public health starter book. Parts of this book felt alternatively rushed or outdated. For instance, Senthilingam said we didn't know the name of the baby who was Patient Zero for the Ebola epidemic in 2015 - but we do. And he wasn't a baby, he was a three-year old.

Other parts that were rushed - typos and missing words in sentences.

There were a few new pieces of information to me, especially about limiting spread of HIV, so I enjoyed reading about that.

Otherwise, everything was a repeat of other public health books. I didn't feel that this book brought anything new to the table.

[Sarah _ A · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great book - whether you believe in vaccinations or not this scientific based book gives you a better understanding of the current health issues we all tend to overlook. Diseases we believed to have been eradicated or contained are still issues other countries battle. Such an eye opener to a better understanding of what is still out there. NO politics, NO he said she said, just scientific facts.

[Mike Pollack · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very insightful book, enjoyed reading it. While the book does touch on COVID it would be interesting to see an update added in another year or two. Helpful book to put things into perspective and understand the past as well as in going epidemics/pandemics and the public health activities that occur to manage them. My main concern with the book is the complete absence of references to the material- adding that would greatly improve the credibility of the material.

[Elen Mai · Rating 5 out of 5]

A comprehensive overview of global public health and epidemiological conceps.

Although I’m more of a fiction focused reader, I personally enjoyed getting back to the basics on this one for a knowledge refresher, having recently completed a MSc in Public Health.

Overall, great for those wanting to get a decent foundation of knowledge built up, would definitely recommend if this is a general topic that interests you.

[Goodolgab · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think this is a great book for dipping your toes into the world of outbreaks and epidemiology! It’s good for a lay audience as it covers a range of different topics in an easily accessible way.

Personally, I felt that it was a bit dry. I also study this area of science so I was craving something a little deeper (but that’s just a personal preference!)

I would totally recommend this to people who don’t necessarily have the background in epidemiology.

[Rand · Rating 5 out of 5]

As someone who has an interest in diseases and outbreaks rather than a degree in them this book was really descriptive and all technical terms explained, which I really appreciated. If you are not an expert and enjoy this topic then I would fully recommend and it is not a hard or long read but is still really interesting.

[Erix · Rating 4 out of 5]

it‘s ok.

[Drake Drakenbach · Rating 5 out of 5]

Quick read, but also super informative on the world we live in.

[Max Baldwin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nothing revolutionary but good for people who know nothing

[Ellen Marie · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5