The Next Pandemic: On the Front Lines Against Humankind’s Gravest Dangers Hardcover – May 24, 2016

fascinating

viruses are micro terrorists. They hijack host enzymes and cell structures to produce multiple copies of themselves, self-assembling into viral macromolecular structures within the hosts cell . They do not replicate through cell divisionEbola hemorrhagic fever is terrifying. The virus eats microscopic holes in the endothelial lining of the blood vessels, and as the holes enlarge, blood seeps into the intestines, bowels, and respiratory tract. The fever can bring on hallucinations, and the victim's tears can turn red with blood. Ebola has been known to cause bleeding from the nose, ears, bowels, bladder, and mouthWhen you're infected, unless you develop an unusually powerful immune response, the disease co-ops your body and turn it into a virus factory. Then, even if you're lucky and recover from the acute phase of the infection, you can have long-term complications from muscle aches and joint pains, and you continue to have virus in sites that are protected from your immune system like the brain, the back of your eye, and, if you're of the male persuasion, your testicles. Virus can then spill out from these sites back into your system to make you sick again. Given the way the virus can linger in the male reproductive system, men can spread it as a sexually transmitted infection for up to nine months after they recover

With humans over running the planet why should we be surprised that pandemics occur? We are taking habitat of animals so that they have no where to go but near humans which presents opportunity for disease to spread from one species to another. We may be the dominate species but if we aren't careful we will be the masters of our own destruction.

Ali Khan's book is the best book about what creates pandemics I have ever read and I've read a lot of the books on that subject. If you have time to only read one and plan for our future. This is the one to read. It gives good advice the top guy at the CDC for 20 years. His collaborator just made the book more readable so it is easy for everyone to understand what has happened and to help prevent it in the future. If only our president could read it and understand it!

I have shared this book with several friends and every one of them has found it informative and comprehensive, as well as an easy read....they each said "If only our national leaders had read this book." The author is especially qualified to write this book.

Ali Khan did a great job at leading the reader through epidemiological adventures. Even those not acquainted with the world of public health and related sciences, will find frequent laughs mixed with education and sober reflection of potential future events. Considering how off course the media leads us in light of more pertinent and pressing matters of future health, this is a useful read for anyone wanting clarity on real and imagined public health threats. So turn off the TV, and read.

Great book - especially for this time!!!! Well written and he has predicted exactly what would happen with this pandemic!

Interesting topic, but the execution left a lot to be desired. The author makes some very bold or unclear claims - for instance, mentioning that he considers viruses alive and that they have "collective intelligence" as an aside - with little to no reasoning or attempt at explanation. When reading, some phrases appeared to show up repeatedly between paragraphs. Almost as if the author was narrating the information but kept meandering.

This was even better than I expected because it gave a balance between data and the personal experience of the author.It has just the right balance between achieving the task and overcoming the negativity of multi organisational action.

Dr. Ali S. Khan, a former director of the Office of Public Health Preparedness and Response at the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, has been at the epicentre of almost all the potential pandemic threats over recent decades.He describes many personal accounts of outbreaks with compelling humanity. Such as his sympathetic understanding when dealing with an Ebola-infected nurse who denied that she knew how she acquired the disease. Ebola was just one of the many diseases he was involved with that kill humans and destroy societies. This book includes, in great detail, his work with the Ebola outbreak in West Africa to illustrate how corruption, nepotism and exploitation by unscrupulous politicians created a catastrophic environment to worsen an already devastating situation. And he draws a comparison with America’s disastrous handling of the Hurricane Katrina to show that the US is not much better. Khan makes clear his anguish over the difficulty of translating the science disease control into effective action because of such politiciansThe title is a little misleading, in that there is less focus on the threats of catastrophic pandemic outbreaks such as the current Coronavirus pandemic. However, I found the book fascinating, as I am sure epidemiologists will also. And it should be an essential work of reference for policymakers and politicians. Many fewer people would have suffered or died if they had read Khan’s book prior to the current pandemic.

Este es un libro más bien a anecdótico de las experiencias del autor. El último capítulo vale la pena. Podría estar mejor..

Still reading it but so far so good!