Influenza

The Hundred-Year Hunt to Cure the 1918 Spanish Flu Pandemic

By: Jeremy Brown

Narrated by: Holter Graham

“Highlights that influenza is still a real and present threat and demonstrates the power and limitations of modern medicine.” —The Wall Street Journal

“A surprisingly compelling and accessible story of one of the world’s most deadly diseases. It is timely and interesting, engaging and sobering.” —David Gregort, CNN political analyst and former moderator for NBC’s Meet the Press

A veteran ER doctor explores the troubling, terrifying, and complex history and present-day research of the flu virus, from the origins of the Great Flu that killed millions, to vexing questions such as: are we prepared for the next epidemic, should you get a flu shot, and how close are we to finding a cure?

While influenza is now often thought of as a common but mild disease, it still kills more than thirty thousand people in the United States each year. Dr. Jeremy Brown, a veteran ER doctor and director of the Office of Emergency Care Research at the National Institutes of Health, talks with leading epidemiologists, policy makers, and the researcher who first sequenced the genetic building blocks of the original 1918 virus to offer both a comprehensive history and a road map to protect us from the next outbreak.

Dr. Brown explores the terrifying and complex history of the flu virus and looks at the controversy over vaccinations and the federal government’s role in preparing for pandemic outbreaks. Though a hundred years of advancement in medical research and technology have passed since the 1918 disaster, Dr. Brown warns that many of the most vital questions about the flu virus continue to confound even the leading experts.

Prophetic

Not every author gets to hear their prophecies fulfilled, but Dr. Brown certainly has. This is a great read to fill in the background on how we got to where we are in April 2020.

Fascinating

I bought this book in 2018 when it was published, but never got around to listening to it. Reading it now in light of our current pandemic is fascinating. So much of what he describes, the stockpiles, the effect on the economy, and the modeling, financial and otherwise, is almost exactly what is happening today. The one thing I think he got wrong was the capability of our politicians and governments to properly steer us through the crisis. Their competence was over estimated.

The book is well written and easy to listen to. The epilogue was very interesting. As the author is an emergency physician, his opinions are well worth th listen.

great

great history on the flu, and the quest to find a workable treatment. I did this book in 1.5 days.

I loved this book. I learned so much.

Dr Brown takes complex subjects and makes them so easy to understand. I love how he explains or repeated mistakes from the 1918 pandemic to now and that while our knowledge and technical capabilities have come a long way, the virus still beats us yearly. I really understand the mutation in antigenic drifting and shift,he makes it so easy to get I now am going to be following flu outbreaks with flutrackers.com

Very Interesting and Informative

If you are here during the COVID19 pandemic seeking answers then you have come to the right place. No it doesn’t discuss the current pandemic but it does explain a lot of underlying issues and how these types of illnesses remain uncured and why they are so deadly.