Viruses, Plagues, and History: Past, Present and Future

400 Pages·2009·3.56 MB·English

by  Michael B. A. Oldstone M.D.

VIRUSES, PLAGUES, AND
HISTORY
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VIRUSES, PLAGUES,
AND HISTORY
Past, Present, and Future
MICHAEL B. A. OLDSTONE
Revised andUpdatedEdition
1
2010
1
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LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Oldstone,MichaelB.A.
Viruses,plagues,andhistory:past,present,andfuture/byMichael
B.A.Oldstone.—Rev.andupdateded.
p. cm.
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
ISBN978-0-19-532731-1
1.Virusdiseases—History. I.Title.
RC114.5.O372010
616.9—dc22
2009003550
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andsixsweethearts,
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Youneednotfeartheterrorbynight,
northearrowthatfliesbyday,
northeplaguethatstalksinthedarkness.
—91stPsalm
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PREFACE
Mybook,Viruses,Plagues,andHistory,isnowmodifiedtoincludethree
newplaguesthatplayimportantrolesinthistwenty-firstcentury.
ThefirsttwoareSuddenAcuteRespiratorySyndrome(SARS),thefirst
newplagueofthiscentury,andWestNilevirus,avirussimilartoyellow
fever virus in being transmitted by mosquito but appearing for the first
time in North America, in New York City during the late 1990s. West
Nile virus is currently the most common cause of encephalitis (brain
infection) in the Americas where it has now spread. Third, bird flu, or
influenzavirus,inwhichabirdhemagglutiningene(H5)hasreplacedthe
knownhemagglutiningenesofhumaninfluenzavirus(H1,H2,orH3),
islethalfornearlytwo-thirdsofhumanshospitalizedorseriouslyillwith
thisinfection.Birdfluhasnowmigratedonthewingsofitsavianhosts
and/orbyshipmentofpoultryinitiallyfromChina,throughoutAsiato
EuropeandwhilenotyetintheAmericas,itsarrivalisimminent.
Considerable insight concerning understanding those plagues previ-
ously discussedandcontainmentof severalsuchviruseshas beenmade
overthelastdecade.Theseadvancesarepresentedhere.Alsodiscussed
isthedampeningofprioreuphoriathatpoliomyelitisvirusandmeasles
virus would be eliminated as targeted by the World Health Organiza-
tion (WHO) in the early twenty-first century. Although containment of
suchinfectionshasbeenremarkable,eliminationhasnotoccurred.Sim-
ilarly,cowswithbovinespongiformdisease(madcowdisease)havenow
been found in North America and raise alarms about the safety of the
beef supply. Lastly, while the complete genomic structure of influenza
1918/1919fossilvirushasnowbeenreconstructedandthevirusmani-
pulated to cause infection, conclusions of how and why the 1918/1919
fluwassolethalisstillapuzzletosolve.
Conflicts between culture, politics, and government versus science
havecontinued.Unfortunately,scienceismostoftenpoorerandaloser
for it being often overruled by faith, myths, and ignorance. This results
in the continuation and increased incidence of disease and greater
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