The Fatal Strain

On the Trail of Avian Flu and the Coming Pandemic

By: Alan Sipress

Narrated by: George K. Wilson

When avian flu began spreading across Asia in the early 2000s, it reawakened fears that had lain dormant for nearly a century. During the outbreak's deadliest years, Alan Sipress chased the virus as it infiltrated remote jungle villages and teeming cities and saw its mysteries elude the world's top scientists.

In The Fatal Strain, Sipress details how socioeconomic and political realities in Asia make it the perfect petri dish in which the fast-mutating strain can become easily communicable among humans. Once it does, the ease and speed of international travel and worldwide economic interdependence could make it as destructive as the flu pandemic of 1918.

In his vivid portrayal of the struggle between man and microbe, Sipress gives a front-line view of the accelerating number of near misses across Asia and the terrifying truth that the prospects for this impending health crisis may well be in the hands of cockfighters, live chicken merchants, and witch doctors rather than virologists or the World Health Organization.

Like The Hot Zone and The Great Influenza, The Fatal Strain is a fast-moving account that brings the inevitability of an epidemic into a fascinating cultural, scientific, and political narrative.

©2009 Alan Sipress (P)2009 Tantor

Critic reviews

"Exemplary---and highly frightening---investigative reporting." ( Kirkus)

Very interesting and fast-moving

This book is a discussion of Bird Flu - how the scientists and public health scientists - track down and stop Avian Flu outbreaks in poultry and humans. Last year and into January 2018, the State of Virginia had an avian flu outbreak in as of January 2018 so it is a current issue. I would definitely recommend this book - it is interesting and fast moving.

Narrator comments

One of the attributes of a good narrator is the ability to make believable different characters in a book by using different,unique voices. Mr. Wilson falls short on this ability. His voicing makes all individuals sound alike.

A must read for everyone

It has elements of adventure, mystery, moments of humor, and terror. I felt like I was right there with the author, in the villages and in the labs. Alan Sipress is a masterful writer. He paints the personalities of researchers, villagers, politicians, and doctors in an understated realistic way that I felt like I was seeing these people myself, not through the writer’s lens. Finally, the topics and information in this book is probably among the most important things anyone alive in this world should know about.