Plagues, Pandemics And Viruses: From The Plague Of Athens To Covid 19

Pandemics can come in waves—like tidal waves! They change societies. They disrupt life. They end lives. As far back as 3000 B.C.E. (the Bronze Age), plagues have stricken mankind. COVID-19 is just the latest example, but history shows that life continues. It shows that knowledge and social cooperation can save lives. Viruses are neither alive nor dead and are the closest thing we have to zombies. Their only known function is to replicate themselves, which can have devastating consequences on their hosts. Most, but not all, bacteria are good for us. Some are truly horrific, including those that caused the bubonic, pneumonic, and septicemic plagues. And viruses and bacteria are always morphing, evolving, and changing, making them hard to treat. Plagues, Pandemics, and Viruses: From the Plague of Athens to Covid 19 is an enlightening, and sometimes frightening, recounting of the destruction wrought by disease, but it also looks at what man has done and can do to overcome even the deadliest and bleakest of contagions. From the plague of Athens to the COVID-19 pandemic, this fascinating tome covers the history, causes, medical treatments, human responses, and aftermath of the world’s biggest pandemics as well as several modern diseases of note and those that are making a comeback. It chronicles the diseases that have inflicted man throughout the millennia, including ... • The differences (and similarities) between COVID-19 and other coronaviruses • The bubonic plague/black plague, which wiped out 30% to 60% of Europe's population • The devastation to the indigenous population during the European colonization of the Americas • The 1918 Spanish Flu, which did not come from Spain • How disease "inspired" The Canterbury Tales, Wuthering Heights, the pop art of Keith Haring, and other art and literature • AIDS' "patient zero" • How climate change will affect future pandemics • The aftermath of various pandemics • Several modern diseases making a comeback • ... and much, much more. Along with investigating some of history's most notorious pandemics and diseases, Plagues, Pandemics, and Viruses takes a look at human resilience and what we've learned from the past. It looks at how science, the medical community, and governments have conquered or mitigated most epidemics even before they can turn into pandemics. It reviews the science of pandemics, preventative measures, and medical interventions and it includes an exclusive interview with Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, as well as other experts in the medical community. Richly illustrated, it also has a helpful bibliography and extensive index. This invaluable resource is designed to help you understand, and protect you from, plagues, pandemics, epidemics, viruses, and disease! Cover ......Page 1 Half Title......Page 2 About the Author......Page 4 Title Page ......Page 6 Copyright......Page 10 Contents......Page 12 Photo Sources......Page 14 Acknowledgments ......Page 16 Dedication......Page 18 Chapter 1: The Beginning of the End......Page 20 A Preface to the Black Death ......Page 21 Bacteria and Viruses ......Page 22 Your Immune System ......Page 25 Vaccines and Antibiotics ......Page 30 Resistance Is Not Futile ......Page 34 Paging Dr. Paleo ......Page 36 Hippocrates and the First Physicians ......Page 37 Medicine from the Middle East ......Page 41 The Plague of Athens ......Page 42 The Plague of Justinian ......Page 48 Chapter 3: The Black Death......Page 56 A Sense of Humor ......Page 59 Where It Began ......Page 62 Italy During the Plague ......Page 66 The Plague in Florence ......Page 70 Florence’s Book of the Dead ......Page 72 Is God Hiding from the Plague? ......Page 73 Giovanni Boccaccio ......Page 77 England During the Plague ......Page 81 The Death of a Princess ......Page 82 Geoffrey Chaucer ......Page 83 The Jewish Persecution ......Page 86 Who Is Death? ......Page 88 The Flagellants ......Page 90 The End? ......Page 93 What We Gained and What We Lost ......Page 94 Chapter 4: The Plagues of London......Page 98 The Healing Hands of Father Morse ......Page 103 Down with the Papists ......Page 104 After the Plague ......Page 108 The Great Plague of London ......Page 109 The Searchers ......Page 114 Isolation Is the Mother of Invention ......Page 119 Blame the Poor ......Page 120 Hot Off the Presses ......Page 122 The Great Fire of London ......Page 124 The Lemon That Saved Paris ......Page 126 Yellow Fever ......Page 128 Ebola ......Page 137 Zika Virus ......Page 147 Chapter 6: Smallpox in the New World......Page 152 Chapter 7: Sexually Transmitted Infections......Page 186 Herpes Simplex 1 and 2 ......Page 187 Gonorrhea ......Page 189 Syphilis ......Page 192 HIV/Aids......Page 200 Chapter 8: Addiction......Page 218 Alcoholism ......Page 220 The Crack Epidemic ......Page 225 The Opioid Epidemic ......Page 232 Rabies ......Page 240 Cholera: The Blue Death......Page 251 Tuberculosis ......Page 262 Polio ......Page 271 Chapter 10: The 1918 Flu......Page 282 The 1918 Flu and World War I ......Page 286 A Flu by Any Other Name ......Page 288 A New World Order ......Page 291 The Hidden Enemy ......Page 294 The Phases of the Flu ......Page 297 What We Lost and What We Gained ......Page 299 Chapter 11: Coronaviruses......Page 304 MERS ......Page 306 SARS ......Page 309 Covid-19 ......Page 314 Like It or Not, We Need Viruses ......Page 386 Good Bacteria ......Page 387 The Last Word ......Page 390 Further Reading......Page 392 Index......Page 408