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Viruses, Plagues, & History Past, Present, and Future
Michael B. A. Oldstone
Oxford University Press, 2010 (Revised and Updated Edition)
ISBN: 978-0-19-532731-1 |
It is fitting that I read this book now, ten years after I purchased it, since we are in the middle of the next global pandemic (SARS-CoV-2). Indeed here we get a short, but substantial history of several viral pandemics that decimated human populations over the centuries, which helps put this latest pandemic into a larger context. Likewise, it also allows the reader to understand why we responded the way we did (including our successes and failures) as well as foresee the challenges ahead. History certainly tends to repeat itself and this book makes that starkly clear. In fact, there are chapters that read as if they had been written for the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic.
This three part book is designed to provide a broad historical and biological overview of how viruses have shaped human culture. The first part is optional, mostly designed for novice readers, and includes a short but helpful primer on virology and immunology. Part two focuses on "success stories" or viral diseases for which we have vaccines, while part three deals with "future challenges" or viral diseases for which we don't yet have vaccines.
I highly recommend this book on the basis that understanding the history of infectious diseases reminds us the value of modern tools to control or eradicate them, such as vaccines. Indeed I often wonder whether the anti-vaxxer movement would be so entrenched today if everyone was taught what life looked like with rampant viral infections naturally (i.e. in the absence of preventative treatments) running their course through the human population. Learning about smallpox, poliomyelitis, measles or yellow fever (all in part two) should be enough to scare someone into reconsidering immunizations in general. And for those who want to hypothesize what viruses might lead to the next pandemic, and how serious it can get, part three will provide haunting examples such as HIV and SARS (both of which are currently in play), the hemorrhagic fevers (ex. Ebola), West Nile virus or Influenza. Of note, the author also includes a chapter on spongiform encephalopathies, which are not believed to be caused by a virus, but rather a prion, but which can nevertheless cause a pandemic.
