Smallpox- the Death of a Disease: The Inside Story of Eradicating a Worldwide Killer
Smallpox- the Death of a Disease: The Surrounded by Tale of Eradicating a Worldwide Killer Books
- ISBN13: 9781591027225
- Shape up: New
- Notes: BUY WITH CONFIDENCE, Over one million books sold! 98% Positive feedback. Compare our books, prices and service to the competition. 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed
Product Description
For more than 3000 years, hundreds of millions of people have died or been left everlastingly scarred or blind by the relentless, incurable disease called smallpox. In 1967, Dr. D.A. Henderson became director of a worldwide campaign to eliminate this disease from the face of the earth.
This spellbinding book is Dr. Henderson’s private tale of how he led the World Health Organization’s campaign to eradicate smallpox the only disease in history to have been deliberately eliminated. Some have called this feat the greatest scientific and humanitarian achievement of the past century.
In a lively, engrossing narrative, Dr. Henderson makes it clear that the gargantuan international effort caught up more than undemanding mass vaccination. He and his staff had to cope with civil wars, floods, impassable roads, and refugees as well as incredible bureaucratic and cultural obstacles, shortages of local health personnel and meager budgets. Countries across the world joined in the effort; the United States and the Soviet Union worked together through the darkest cold war days; and professionals from more than 70 nations served as WHO field staff. On October 26, 1976, the last case of smallpox occurred. The disease that annually had killed two million people or more had been vanquished and in just over ten years.
The tale did not end there. Dr. Henderson recounts in vivid detail the continuing struggle over whether to ruin the remaining virus in the two laboratories still that held it. Then came the startling discovery that the Soviet Union had been experimenting with smallpox virus as a biological weapon and producing it in large quantities. The risk of its possible use by a rogue nation or a terrorist has had to be taken sincerely and Dr. Henderson has been a central figure in plans for coping with it.
New methods for mass smallpox vaccination were so successful that he sought to expand the program of smallpox vaccination to include polio, measles, whooping cough, diphtheria, and tetanus vaccines. That program now reaches more than four out of five children in the world and is eradicating poliomyelitis.
This unique book is to be treasured a private and right tale that proves that through cooperation and perseverance the most daunting of obstacles can be overcome.
Buy Cheap Smallpox- the Death of a Disease: The Surrounded by Tale of Eradicating a Worldwide Killer Online
Related posts:
- The Life and Death of Smallpox
- The Stealth Killer: Is Oral Spirochetosis the Missing Link in the Dental and Heart Disease Labyrinth?
- The Eradication of Smallpox: Edward Jenner and The First and Only Eradication of a Human Infectious Disease
- Hope For Healing Liver Disease In Your Dog: The Complete Story
- Fatal Sequence: The Killer Within
One of the most fascinating books I have read about infectious diseases. What a loyal and committed group accomplished this incredible disease.
Rating: 5 / 5
Smallpox: The Death of disease is an intriguing, right tale about the smallpox global eradication campaign told by the man who ran it himself, Dr. D.A Henderson. After providing a solid foundation with a summary of smallpox history, he plunges into the course of eradication. Henderson gives a unique anecdotal insight into a few of the intricacies and personalities that shaped the campaign program. The tale travels through each people and phase of the eradication where floods, mechanical problems and not to mention cultural resistance were nearly every corner. Misguided politics had a significant influence as well. Opportunely, Henderson’s hands on approach and disregard for inhibitive set of laws lead the effort to success.
The reader also gets a glimpse behind the scenes of the eradication certification program as well as the alarming biosecurity issues that have surfaced post-eradication. Henderson has continued to play an vital role in advising the government on how to prepare for potential bioterror attacks involving smallpox. But, he concludes with a surprising attitude about future eradication efforts.
Overall, the tale is engaging from cover to cover. Henderson’s anecdotal account of the campaign provides a unique dimension, which no other smallpox literature can provide. The lessons learned from this achievement should serve as a template for future global effort as well as private life goals. In addition, smallpox aside, this inspiring account is evidence that no hindrance can inhibit a strong a will.
Rating: 5 / 5
Any interested in a history of disease control – especially any health library – needs Smallpox: The Death of a Disease. It charts 3,000 years of the relentless, incurable disease and the author’s own campaign to eliminate this disease from the world. Dr. Henderson’s private tale of how he led the World Health Organization’s efforts is riveting and provides an insider’s account of international health issues. Not compulsory for health and general-interest libraries alike.
Rating: 5 / 5
Henderson takes one of the monumental achievements in disease history and makes it readily accessible to the general broadcast in a very fascinating rendering of the eradication of smallpox.
What strikes me most about Henderson’s perspective is how candid he is about his experience as head of the eradication. He is characteristically open about his efforts, often revealing the actual disease to be less of a problem than dealing with his superiors. If he makes anything obnoxiously clear, it’s that when working on a global project one must choose the people to work with and ignore the calls of everyone else to get something done. The ins and outs of the WHO bureaucracy are very clearly bestow throughout the entire book, necessitating a search for loopholes that may possibly only be carried out by our very cheeky, irreverent author. It’s trying not to admire his no-nonsense approach.
The book itself quickly documents how Henderson serendipitously was given the position that would define his career and then jumps into eradication. He goes through in minute, yet engaging detail the evolving strategy needed to tackle such a beast with small more than a picture of a dude with smallpox, freeze-dried vaccine, and a bifurcated needle. The only thing that I would opportunity criticizing in his book would be the slight repetitiveness of some of the chapters. Even as I’m sure the actual administer was much more complicated, the ring-vaccination technique coupled with stringent scrutiny seemed to be the general gist of more than half of the discussed regions, with slight adaptations for weather and political conditions in the remaining situations.
Even so, for one who is interested in the topic, I can’t reckon of a better source than Henderson. The last few pages are a very nice capstone to the book, collecting what he gathered from his experiences to formulate his own strong attitude on where we should go from here. Certainly worth the read if you like poxy stuff.
Rating: 5 / 5
D.A. Henderson’s book on smallpox is an outstanding, well-written account of the success of the incredibly trying task of eradicating smallpox,starting with a small staff and relatively small funding.
(One disclaimer: I’ve known D.A. Henderson since the early 1980s, when he was chairman of a technical advisory group on vaccination, and have everlastingly liked and accepted him.)
This entertaining, sometimes surprising tale of how he and his team of health workers accomplished the trying, and sometimes the impossible, in remote villages and cities from Bangladesh to India to Ethiopia, is well worth reading. It details the hard-fought success tale that later came to be called one of mankind’s greatest accomplishments: The complete eradication of a disease.
What happened after eradication is just as fascinating, with the 9/11 terrorist attacks spurring very real fears of biological warfare. As it turned out, the Soviet Union had been stockpiling huge quantities of deadly smallpox for use as a weapon, as described by defector Ken Alibek, so the possibility of a deadly smallpox attack was real.
This book is well worth reading, not only for the history but also for the insight it gives us on the disease and the health systems nearly the world and how they dealt with the eradication program, called target zero.
It’s also fascinating to read. Highly not compulsory.
Rating: 5 / 5