The Fatal Strain: On the Trail of Avian Flu and the Coming Pandemic [Hardcover]

Alan Sipress (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 12, 2009

A riveting account of why science alone can't stop the next pandemic

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.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

With the current focus on the H1N1, or swine flu, people may have forgotten about the avian flu scare of a few years ago. The deadly avian, or H5N1, flu centered in Asia and garnered similar headlines in 2004, announcing fears of a pandemic. In his first book, Sipress, a writer for the Washington Post, comes bearing the unhappy news that the avian flu threat grows more dire every day (outbreaks reported as recently as this year). Sipress rides shotgun with WHO researchers as they cross Southeast Asia tracking transmission of the disease and trying to persuade recalcitrant governments to report cases of avian flu and cull flocks of thousands of chickens. Yet possibly infected birds continue to be smuggled across borders, and experts say we are not appropriately prepared to combat a pandemic. Readers interested in public health or who like to stay abreast of all possible looming threats will want to read this.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review

"A grim harrowing account of what is happening--and not happening--in Southeast Asia as countries confront bird flu.

Former Washington Post business editor and foreign correspondent Sipress spent years following human outbreaks of bird flu in mainland China, Hong Kong, Vietnam, cambodia and Indonesia as the disease relentlessly moved west. The culprit was the virulent H5N1 influenza virus, which has ravaged geese, ducks, other wild fowl, the roosters groomed for cockfighting and, most importantly, domestic chickens, transmitting disease to human bird handlers or consumers. Like all flu viruses, H5N1 is quick to mutate or mix genes with other flue viruses, meaning that it can develop resistance to drugs or vaccines. In some places it may have already become asymptomatic in birds, which makes checking the source of a human outbreak, already problematic, even more formidable. The critcal question is when a mutation will ease human-to-human transmission. That will be the takeoff point for a pandemic that will dwarf the mortality of the 1918 flu epidemic. The World Health Organization and other global health leaders, as well as the many epidemiologists and virologists tracking the virus, are convinced that it is not a question of if but when. The reasons vary: the globalization of commerce and travel means that all parts of the world are connected within hours; a growing middle class in developing countries is eating more meat, and poultry conglomerates have risen to meet the need, in some cases conspiring with governments to suppress news of poultry disease and required bird cullings; developing countries are still too poor to cope with epidemic disease or vaccinations. Some have pledged not to cooperate in disease surveillance, blaming the West for taking their virus samples to make drugs or vaccines that are too expensive for them. There is still much to be learned about the virus, and Sipress's Sketches of heroic men and women at the frontlines enrich the narrative, even as he expertly details the obstacles posed when a disease becomes a matter of politics, commerce and culture clash.

Exemplary--and highly frightening--investigative reporting."
-Kirkus Review

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 400 pages
• Publisher: Viking Adult; 1 edition (November 12, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 067002127X
• ISBN-13: 978-0670021277
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.4 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,105,915 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars very timely!, December 25, 2009

By 

jjmazza (Marshfield, WI) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The Fatal Strain: On the Trail of Avian Flu and the Coming Pandemic (Hardcover)

This was a terrific read and I'm pleased to be one of the early readers to write a review. The book is a candid, no nonsense, detail portrayal of the spread and current status of the H5N1 avian influenza virus(bird flu). Sipress never wandered from the focus of his detailed review and evolution of the viral epidemics he witnessed. His travels and intrepid search in the countries of Southeast Asia provides the reader with an accurate perspective on the magnitude and implications of the bird flu and why it is of major concern to the countries of the world, whether developed or developing. The human interest stories of the many individuals and victims the author encountered on his sojourn and the effects on the economy of these developing countries captivated my interest and appreciation.
The cooperation between the health surveillance organizations of the various countries where the epidemics were documented was comforting. However, the political insensitivity in those developing countries was equally worrisome.

Of paramount importance in understanding these epidemics and spread of the disease is the rapidity with which these viruses can change their genetic make-up that allows them to infect other species with unpredictable virulence.

As someone involved in biomedical research, it will be a book I will in all likelihood be referring to as we encounter the influenza epidemics of the future.

Kudos to Alen Sipress on this his first book! I look forward to his future or subsequent publications.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Fatal Strain, thoughtful inquiry into a murky subject, February 11, 2010

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R. Idol (Houston, TX) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Fatal Strain: On the Trail of Avian Flu and the Coming Pandemic (Hardcover)

Avian flu, is by nature an evolving organism. It is accepted that it mutates at a higher rate than most other organisms. I suggest that it is also a relatively elusive organism. Therefore what was accepted last year may have changed or our perception or interpretation of that knowledge may have changed. Given such fluid understanding, it is good to stop and look back at the progression of the problem and our knowledge.
I have read official reports and other works about Avian flu and was very pleased with this volume as it sheds additional light on those reports. The book is the best layman's "history" I have yet seen for the progression of this virus and our evolving understanding of it. Its information is consistent with at least some official reports and technical papers and the author's credentials and references inspire a measure of credibility.
If it raises concerns of human-to-human transmission that go beyond officially sanctioned reports, it also suggests the political pressures that may have lead to downplaying this threat and cites researchers as sources for the concern. We have recently seen issues and controversy surrounding WHO's handling of Swine flu , which by no means indicates incompetence but only the complexity of these viruses and the difficulty of quickly understanding what they are and what they are capable of.
With that in mind, and realizing that there is continueing disagreement among researchers about Avian flu, reading "The Fatal Strain" is highly recommended to enlarge your understanding of this potential threat.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Global focus is valuable, January 24, 2010

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D. Sampson (SoCal) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Fatal Strain: On the Trail of Avian Flu and the Coming Pandemic (Hardcover)

Just finished this fascinating first book and would recommend it to anyone interesting in global health.
Just one of the most interesting aspects is how cultural and economic considerations often trump strictly medical concerns.
One other segment I found truly interesting was the detailed chronology of the spread of SARS. I followed it in the media at the time, but this timeline was telling. Great effort!