The Deadliest Pandemic In History
“Influenza Pandemics must be taken seriously, precisely because of their capacity to spread rapidly to every country in the world” (Chan). This quote that was just stated is very relevant to what happened in 1918 during the Great Influenza or what is also called the Spanish Influenza. Many people call it the “Mother of All Pandemics” because of its impact. John Barry’s “The Great Influenza: The Story of the Deadliest Pandemic in History” shows us how the influenza took part in people’s everyday lives. One can tell that this book has a good solid background, strengths and weaknesses, and great use of imagery. What is the Influenza? According to the John Hopkins Medicine Health Library it is “a highly contagious viral respiratory tract infection.” …show more content…
Robert Walch, a West Coast book columnist, states “Barry 's account of how the influenza spread through military camps virtually unchecked and then spread into the civilian population reads like a novel”. Walch did not like the fact that he just wrote out the facts and did not give any detail.“It is the anecdotes and personal stories of those touched by the influenza that flesh out the story and turn this lengthy study into an unexpected page turner”(Walch). Even though we have heard many stories about the 1918 Influenza Pandemic, John Barry has told us many things that we may have not known. Howard Markel of the Washington Post said “Although we have several other superb histories of the 1918 influenza pandemic, John M. Barry presents a fascinating look at how the epidemic spread and how physicians and researchers rallied to mobilize against a global health crisis”. Karen Brudney, a medical doctor at the Columbia University in New York says “Barry only focuses on what was relevant at that …show more content…
“The Great Influenza: The Story of the Deadliest Pandemic in History” by John Barry is a great book for anyone who wants to know about the history of diseases that made an impact on the worlds history. Even though John Barry was not necessarily a doctor, he did know a lot about history and how diseases work. John Barry said “How prepared are we for a new pandemic? At this writing we are not prepared at all” (Barry). John Barry’s book shows us that we need to be very careful when it comes to diseases and our health. The Great Influenza gives use a good background about the influenza, it has strengths and weaknesses, and it has many uses of imagery. This book was very interesting
Analysis Of Jeff Hirsch's The Eleventh Plague
1632 Words | 7 Pages“We must become the change we wish to see in the world.”. Mahatma Ghandi In the story, The Eleventh Plague Stephen has to live through a dystopia where China nuked America and people are dying from a strand of super flu that China created. In my companion book first you will go inside a plane and find a can of pears, then you will travel into the world of flashbacks, after that you will find out how Stephen being alone is so important to the book, find out what happens when Nukes are mixed with the flu and finally, you will find out how the story should have ended. 3
John Mandel's Station Eleven
757 Words | 4 PagesStation Eleven, a science fiction novel written by Emily ST. John Mandel, tells the stories of characters’ lives and careers before and after the Georgia Flu, is a strong infection causing infected patients’ deaths within forty eight hours. Mandel describes feelings and actions of characters about their home islands, their places in their world, and two categories of art, high and low, which trigger survivors’ different responses, to mimic modern citizens’ emotions and points of view about their current society. By constructing an imitation of modern citizens’ feelings in the book, Mandel shows readers how their lives will become after losing their current positions in order to remind them that they need to appreciate what they have and not
Great Influenza Paradox
171 Words | 1 PagesThe use of the paradox in The Great Influenza by John M. Barry reveals seemingly contradictory statements true. In the second paragraph Barry believes that one must "embrace – uncertainty" (Barry). He uses this literacy device to highlight uncertainty as a welcomed sensation to be accepted, rather than denied. Along with presenting truthful statements, Barry makes every word, phrase, and sentence that he writes ultimately more powerful and read at different understanding levels by raising the bar and introducing contradicting information. Barry characterizes scientific research as contradicting.
Analysis Of A Most Terrible Plague By Giovanni Boccaccio
524 Words | 3 PagesThe primary source I chose for my analysis is “A Most Terrible Plague: Giovanni Boccaccio”. This document focuses on the account of how individuals acted when a plague broke out and hundreds of people were dying every day. This source is written by Giovanni Boccaccio as it is a story told by him and friends as they passed the time. Boccaccio discusses how “the plague had broken out some years before in the Levant, and after passing from place to place, and making incredible havoc along the way, had now reached the west.” Readers of this source can assume there wasn’t much cures and medicinal technology weren’t used much during this time as even their physicians stayed away from the sick because once they got close they would also get sick.
Lack Of Knowledge In Richard Preston's The Hot Zone
753 Words | 4 PagesThe Hot Zone is a book that discusses the most terrifying events that happened in the human history. This book was written by Richard Preston and It was published in the year 1994. It also discusses about the dramatic stories, giving a hair-raising experience about the lethal viruses that crashed into the human race. This book clarifies about the breakouts of the filovirus around the world, and how did people deal with this breakout. There were many moral themes that were mentioned / highlighted in this book which includes; lack of knowledge, fear, chance and Human error.
Review Of The Hot Zone By Richard Preston
853 Words | 4 PagesWriter and best-selling author, Richard Preston, in his non-fiction thriller, The Hot Zone: A Terrifying True Story, tells about the origins and incidents involving major filoviruses, such as Ebola and Marburg. Preston highlights multiple cases of the people who dealt and came with close contact to the viruses, from the possible contraction of Marburg by Monet, to Nurse Mayinga’s case of Ebola Zaire, to the biohazard operation at the Ebola-infested monkey house in Reston. Through this, he influences the public’s view on the viruses with an informative, but dramatized tone. Although the depictions strike convincing fear into many hearts, there are inaccuracies that blur the true reality of Ebola, especially with its symptoms and method of transmission.
The American Plague: The Epidemic The Shaped Our History
1806 Words | 8 PagesOne of the biggest summer nuisance would be the mosquito, but more specifically the Ades aegypti mosquito. The Aedes aegypti is the vector for yellow fever and the cause of the numerous deaths. In her book The American Plague: The Untold Story of Yellow Fever, The Epidemic the Shaped Our History, Molly Caldwell Crosby presents the idea that the mosquito is not just the only reason an epidemic occurred in the 18th century. This story accounts for the disease that broke out across the world and nearly destroyed almost all of North America’s population, which some believe could have been avoided by simple quarantine analysis and sanitary methods.
Ebola Virus Tam Analysis
235 Words | 1 PagesHave you heard about the Ebola virus? The authors of both of the essay explain what Ebola is and how you could catch it. In the first essay ,”Virus Tamer”,the author Sara Goudarzi, wrote about a virologist that helps with ebola. Victoria Jensen, who works at National Biodefense Analysis every day she keeps on learning new things about the virus. This article mostly is about how people catch the ebola virus.
C221 Task 2 H1N1
740 Words | 3 PagesIt is highly contagious and can be transferred person to person via close contact such as touching something that is contaminated and proceeding to touch one’s eyes, nose or mouth. It can also be transmitted by respiratory secretions or droplet exposure ("Interim Guidance", 2010). People who are at high risk of getting infected by the H1N1 influenza virus include children under five years old, people 65 and older, people who have chronic illnesses, pregnant women and people who have compromised immune systems (Krause & Poceta, 2017). The symptoms of the H1N1 virus are very similar to symptoms of regular influenza and include nausea and vomiting, fever, diarrhea, coughing, sore throat and
John Mandel's Station 11 Analysis
1527 Words | 7 PagesIn Emily St. John Mandel’s Station Eleven, Earth is stricken with a deadly flu virus that wipes out the majority of the population, changing
Argumentative Essay On The Spanish Influenza
1130 Words | 5 PagesThe regulations put out by government ensured that the outbreak would come to an immediate halt, and if a new epidemic were to sweep through the states, it would be derailed. Another outbreak of influenza became prevalent in England in 1933. A doctor was able to isolate the disease and noticed how it spread. Lots of this was due to research from the Spanish Influenza, and the death toll was much lower. (Youngdahl)
The Ghost Map Essay
853 Words | 4 PagesThe 1854 cholera outbreak was potentially one of the worst epidemics London has seen in its recent history, having eliminated around seven hundred people in just two weeks. In book The Ghost Map, Steven Johnson tells a thought-provoking tale about two different men who approached the spread of a microscopic bacterium in a growing urban city, and how their actions had changed the world. This particular cholera outbreak that swept through Broad Street in Soho district of London in 1854 led to the invention of modern life because it ultimately resulted in the transition from superstition to medical and scientific reasoning, the advances in modern epidemiology and the refurbishment of city infrastructures. John Snow’s role in the combat against the cholera outbreak brought medical and scientific reasoning into light. In the past, people widely believed in superstitions such as the
Influenza Dbq Analysis
310 Words | 2 PagesThe government agencies response to the outbreak of influenza proved to be useless, with ignorance, failure to act, and disregard to those in need, as displayed in documents one, three, and six. Document one was written by a anonymous medical doctor in the United States, 1918. As stated in a letter written to a friend, hoping to inform them about the serious outbreak of influenza, the change influenza had caused increased medical need, as well as doubled the amount of paperwork. He continues in a meloncholy, rushed, tone, that “For several days there were no coffins and the bodies piled up something fierce” (line 8). Therefore, the governents response to the outbreak proved to be for merely business issues, as the paperwork was treated better
Thesis For The Ghost Map
566 Words | 3 PagesAs their next-door-neighbors begin dying, two men are driven to action: Reverend Henry Whitehead, whose faith in a benevolent God is great, and Dr. John Snow, whose beliefs about contagion have been rejected by the scientific community, but who is convinced that he knows how the disease is had spread. “The Ghost Map” records the
Flu Shot Informative Speech
840 Words | 4 PagesName: Kianna Quam Speech Title: Flu Shots: What You Need To Know Specific Purpose: I want my audience to understand how flu shots work, and be able to make an educated decision on whether or not they need one. Thesis Statement/Central Idea: Flu shots are an important part of keeping ourselves, along with the people around us, healthy. Introduction Attention-Getting Device: Did you get your flu shot last year?
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