Plague
A Story of Science, Rivalry, and the Scourge That Won't Go Away
-
-
3.5 • 2 Ratings
-
-
- $11.99
-
- $11.99
Publisher Description
A riveting account, at once a reconstruction of the race to find a cure, a history of bubonic plague, and an investigation into the threat of plague today
Plague. The very word carries an unholy resonance. No other disease can claim its apocalyptic or mythological power. It can lie dormant for centuries, only to resurface with ferocious, nation-killing force. Here, with the high drama of a great adventure tale, Edward Marriott unravels the story of this lethal disease: the historic battle to identify its source, the devastating effects of pandemics, and the prospects for the next outbreak.
Through a range of primary sources, Marriott takes us back to Hong Kong in the summer of 1894, when a diagnosis of plague brought two top scientists to the island-Alexandre Yersin, a lone, maverick Frenchman, and his eminent rival, the Japanese Shibasaburo Kitasato. Marriott interweaves his narrative of their fierce competition to discover the plague's source with vivid scenes of the scourge's persistence: California in 1900, when plague arrived in the United States; Surat, India, in 1994, where torrential floods drowned millions of rats, causing the worst epidemic in seventy years; and New York City, some time in the future, where there is a rat for every human being, a diminishing budget for pest control, and an emerging strain of plague that is resistant to antibiotics.
A masterly recounting of medical and human history, Plague is an instructive warning, a gripping account of history, and a chilling read.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
A scourge of epic proportions, the plague raced through medieval Europe and Asia, killing millions. By the early 20th century, medical science confidently considered the rapacious disease under control. In 1996, however, the World Health Organization which had recorded 24,000 plague cases over the previous 15 years reclassified the plague as a "re-emerging disease." Various cultures in the past explained the pestilence as punishment from the gods, but it was not until the late 19th century in Hong Kong that two scientists isolated the bacteriological causes of the disease. Marriott's thrilling medical detective story re-creates vividly the challenges that the Japanese researcher Shibasaburo Kitasato and French bacteriologist Alexandre Yersin faced in Hong Kong in their race for an explanation and a cure. In 1894, Kitasato arrived first to find that the island's colonial authority had refused to accept the first signs of the plague that now ravaged Hong Kong. Kitasato was world-renowned for his research skills, and the British government allowed him unrestricted access to patients and to supplies. Although Yersin discovered the bacillus causing the plague, Kitasato published his findings (which turned out to be incorrect) first in the medical journals. Yersin went on to discover a vaccine for the plague, which he began administering in India in 1898. Later scientists discovered that rats carried plague, and subsequent campaigns to rid cities of rats followed. Marriott weaves an engrossing story of a 1994 plague outbreak in India into the chronicle of Yersin and Kitasato as an indication of how plague sits on our doorsteps waiting for the right opportunity to strike, in spite of the great advances of medicine. Forecasts:Readers of Judith Miller'sGerms, as well as Laurie Garrett'sThe Coming Plague andBetrayal of Trust, will likely turn to this one.
