Plagues, pandemics and viruses : from the plague of Athens to COVID-19 Cover Image

Book

Plagues, pandemics and viruses : from the plague of Athens to COVID-19 / Heather E. Quinlan.

Summary:

"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." -- Amazon.com.

Record details

ISBN: 9781578597048
ISBN: 1578597048
ISBN: 1578597390
ISBN: 9781578597390
Physical Description: xvii, 397 pages : black and white illustrations ; 25 cm
Publisher: Canton, MI : Visible Ink Press, [2020]

Content descriptions

Bibliography, etc. Note:	Includes bibliographical references and index.
Formatted Contents Note:	The beginning of the end -- Early medicine -- The Black Death -- The plagues of London -- Plagues of Africa and the tropics -- Smallpox in the New World -- Sexually transmitted infections -- Addiction -- Do-or-die battles -- The 1918 flu -- Coronaviruses -- Living with pathogens.