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Patient Zero (Revised Edition): Solving the Mysteries of Deadly Epidemics
Engrossing true stories of the pioneers of epidemiology who risked their lives to find the source of deadly diseases—now revised to include updated information and a new chapter on Covid-19.
More people have died in disease epidemics than in wars or other disasters, but the process of identifying these diseases and determining how they spread is often a terrifying gamble. Epidemiologists have been ignored, mocked, or silenced all while trying to protect the population and identify “patient zero”—the first person to have contracted the disease, and a key piece in solving the epidemic puzzle.
Patient Zero tracks the gripping tales of eight epidemics and pandemics—how they started, how they spread, and the fight to stop them. This revised edition combines a brand-new design with updated information and features diseases such as Spanish Influenza, Ebola, and AIDS, as well as a new chapter on Covid-19.
More people have died in disease epidemics than in wars or other disasters, but the process of identifying these diseases and determining how they spread is often a terrifying gamble. Epidemiologists have been ignored, mocked, or silenced all while trying to protect the population and identify “patient zero”—the first person to have contracted the disease, and a key piece in solving the epidemic puzzle.
Patient Zero tracks the gripping tales of eight epidemics and pandemics—how they started, how they spread, and the fight to stop them. This revised edition combines a brand-new design with updated information and features diseases such as Spanish Influenza, Ebola, and AIDS, as well as a new chapter on Covid-19.
- GenresNonfiction
202 pages, Kindle Edition
Published April 6, 2021
48 people are currently reading
43 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
September 18, 2022
This was a well-written and informative book. The way the firsthand accounts were presented really brought the situations and dangers to light. And the explanations of the diseases as well as the history and science behind learning more was fascinating. This book left me wanting to learn more about some of the world's worst epidemics/pandemics.
May 30, 2023
2.5 stars overall
This book started strong but ended abominably. All of the chapters up until HIV/AIDs: plague, cholera, yellow fever, typhoid, and Spanish flu, are worthy of 4.5 stars (the reason I knocked the 1/2 star off is the few unnecessary random woke/equity/economic justice/oppressor/oppressed group comments). Those chapters were informational and mostly engaging. For example:
-washing hands to stop the spread of disease was once controversial and a doctor who promoted the idea was run off
-Ebola kills 88% of those who get it - it's one of the most lethal diseases on the planet
-Ebola and likely HIV, spread to humans when hunters killed and butchered infected gorillas/apes, and/or bats, who are ideal carriers for viruses (Ebola epidemics in animals are linked to Ebola epidemics in humans)
3 stars for the chapter on HIV/AIDs. The history of the disease was well done. However, Peters' pro-LGBTQ propaganda tirade was distasteful. In a book aimed at adults I would find this annoying, but in a middle grades book it's inappropriate. She speaks as if those whose religion calls homosexuality sin means they hate/fear LGBTQ people - it's simply not true and it's a harmful stereotype.
1 star for the chapter on Covid-19, as she went completely off the rails. I'd recommend the pre-Covid edition of the book. Peters only included information that fit her narrative. Anything she disagreed with was labeled "misinformation" or omitted:
-There's nothing about the importance of early treatment such as Budesonide, Hydroxychloroquine, or Ivermectin
-she never mentions that the Covid vaccine does NOT stop a person from getting or spreading Covid, she just tells her readers to get vaccinated
-she does not mentions that the researchers at the Wuhan lab were doing gain of function research along with the NIH
"Indigenous peoples in many parts of the world experience racism and oppression that affect their living conditions. They may have trouble accessing medical care, nutritious food, or clean water. Because of discrimination, they might live in crowded condition or have uncertain sources of income. For all these reasons, indigenous people are at a higher risk of suffering from Covid-19."
-Yes, that's her distorted and faulty line of thinking
Despite my intense frustration with her treatment of HIV/AIDs and Covid-19, it was super fascinating to learn about each of the diseases and how they traced the epidemics back to patient zero (the first person to contract the disease).
I listened to the audiobook read by Jo Vannicola. This was the first audiobook I've ever listened to that I couldn't tell if the narrator was male or female - the voice was ambiguous.
This book started strong but ended abominably. All of the chapters up until HIV/AIDs: plague, cholera, yellow fever, typhoid, and Spanish flu, are worthy of 4.5 stars (the reason I knocked the 1/2 star off is the few unnecessary random woke/equity/economic justice/oppressor/oppressed group comments). Those chapters were informational and mostly engaging. For example:
-washing hands to stop the spread of disease was once controversial and a doctor who promoted the idea was run off
-Ebola kills 88% of those who get it - it's one of the most lethal diseases on the planet
-Ebola and likely HIV, spread to humans when hunters killed and butchered infected gorillas/apes, and/or bats, who are ideal carriers for viruses (Ebola epidemics in animals are linked to Ebola epidemics in humans)
3 stars for the chapter on HIV/AIDs. The history of the disease was well done. However, Peters' pro-LGBTQ propaganda tirade was distasteful. In a book aimed at adults I would find this annoying, but in a middle grades book it's inappropriate. She speaks as if those whose religion calls homosexuality sin means they hate/fear LGBTQ people - it's simply not true and it's a harmful stereotype.
1 star for the chapter on Covid-19, as she went completely off the rails. I'd recommend the pre-Covid edition of the book. Peters only included information that fit her narrative. Anything she disagreed with was labeled "misinformation" or omitted:
-There's nothing about the importance of early treatment such as Budesonide, Hydroxychloroquine, or Ivermectin
-she never mentions that the Covid vaccine does NOT stop a person from getting or spreading Covid, she just tells her readers to get vaccinated
-she does not mentions that the researchers at the Wuhan lab were doing gain of function research along with the NIH
"Indigenous peoples in many parts of the world experience racism and oppression that affect their living conditions. They may have trouble accessing medical care, nutritious food, or clean water. Because of discrimination, they might live in crowded condition or have uncertain sources of income. For all these reasons, indigenous people are at a higher risk of suffering from Covid-19."
-Yes, that's her distorted and faulty line of thinking
Despite my intense frustration with her treatment of HIV/AIDs and Covid-19, it was super fascinating to learn about each of the diseases and how they traced the epidemics back to patient zero (the first person to contract the disease).
I listened to the audiobook read by Jo Vannicola. This was the first audiobook I've ever listened to that I couldn't tell if the narrator was male or female - the voice was ambiguous.
November 7, 2021
Reading as an adult who just wanted the basics of some of history's most deadly epidemics, I thought this was a really interesting read. It gave me a good grounding without going on for 600 pages about stuff I really didn't care about (like the childhoods and physical descriptions and detailed work history of the 23 most important scientists involved in each epidemic—here's looking at you, John M Barry). It went just far enough into the science to be interesting without being dry. I haven't read the original, but I thought the COVID-19 additions were good, not just in the one COVID chapter but the tie-ins throughout the rest.
What didn't work for me were the narrations—told like stories—in the first part of the first few chapters. I know the author was trying to hook the reader and get them to care about people involved in the epidemics, but those sections had to involve a LOT of speculation on the author's part, so it read like historical fiction instead of nonfiction. That always bothers me in books and makes it harder to believe the parts stated as fact. The rest of each chapter stepped back and didn't presume to know the thoughts and feelings and exact dialogue of the historical figures, so it felt more reliable. The story-like narration in the later chapters didn't bother me so much. It might have been because I was getting used to the style, but I think it was because the analytical part of me was subconsciously thinking, "Okay, this is a recent epidemic, so there are probably good written records of how this scene played out. Or the author could even have interviewed these people." So I believed them more. Anyway, this is a minor quibble that most people won't care about.
Overall, very interesting and informative.
What didn't work for me were the narrations—told like stories—in the first part of the first few chapters. I know the author was trying to hook the reader and get them to care about people involved in the epidemics, but those sections had to involve a LOT of speculation on the author's part, so it read like historical fiction instead of nonfiction. That always bothers me in books and makes it harder to believe the parts stated as fact. The rest of each chapter stepped back and didn't presume to know the thoughts and feelings and exact dialogue of the historical figures, so it felt more reliable. The story-like narration in the later chapters didn't bother me so much. It might have been because I was getting used to the style, but I think it was because the analytical part of me was subconsciously thinking, "Okay, this is a recent epidemic, so there are probably good written records of how this scene played out. Or the author could even have interviewed these people." So I believed them more. Anyway, this is a minor quibble that most people won't care about.
Overall, very interesting and informative.
February 18, 2025
Fantastic scientific book! This was science on epidemiology, explained in a way that was easy to understand! Scientists trying to find the patient 0 of various diseases/viruses but it was told in a way that it was just these peoples stories. It was really interesting learning about diseases back in the 1600s to present and how science has changed and evolved, but we still react very similarly to back then! This was particularly interesting to compare the past with present having lived through the Covid-19 pandemic and experiencing it first hand. They even updated the book to include Covid-19 in it! Overall great listen!
February 9, 2023
4. 5 stars.
At first, my students were not thrilled to be reading an informational text but they ended up loving it! They actually requested we read more of it and many of them went back and read the chapter we skipped over in their free time. I would recommend coordinating this read with the science curriculum because my students had many questions that I, an ELA teacher, could not answer. I think if this is read as a part of an interdisciplinary curriculum students would get even more out of it.
At first, my students were not thrilled to be reading an informational text but they ended up loving it! They actually requested we read more of it and many of them went back and read the chapter we skipped over in their free time. I would recommend coordinating this read with the science curriculum because my students had many questions that I, an ELA teacher, could not answer. I think if this is read as a part of an interdisciplinary curriculum students would get even more out of it.
October 30, 2021
This updated edition has a chapter each for the great plaque of London, 1665, cholera, yellow fever, typhoid, influenza pandemic of 1918-19, Ebola, AIDS, and COVID-19. A variety of fact boxes punctuate the narratives which take each disease from its fist report, through systemic search for origin, transmission, and development of treatment.
Amended with glossary, bibliography, sources, and index.
Amended with glossary, bibliography, sources, and index.
May 1, 2025
Very insightful with all the pandemics/epidemics in history.
Liked how each of the chapters was its own separate story, helped the kids out with understanding what was going on.
Read with my 7th Graders!
Liked how each of the chapters was its own separate story, helped the kids out with understanding what was going on.
Read with my 7th Graders!
May 20, 2023
Interesting read.
December 8, 2024
Well written and informative. Found it difficult to constantly flip back and forth to the insets, but presented epidemics from a great first person perspective.
March 30, 2025
I look forward to teaching using this book next year.
Read
December 9, 20252nd ELA book for 7th grade
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews