Customer Reviews

Fever!: The hunt for a new killer virus,

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I first read this as a grade-schooler, as the condensed version in Reader's Digest, and later found the full edition at a book fair. It is one of the most fascinating, and frightening, books I have ever read.

Paul Ehrlich's "The Population Bomb" postulated a worldwide pandemic of this disease which killed off 1/4 of the earth's population a la "The Stand", but it would not happen this way; the virus mutates and weakens too readily.

Some other updates on key players in this book:

Rose and Lily "Penny" Pinneo are retired and live together in Sebring, Florida.
Dr. John Hamer and his wife, Elsie, live in Fort Wayne, Indiana and recently celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary.
Dr. Wilbur Downs died a few years ago.
The author, John Fuller, died in 1991.
I was unable to find Dr. Sonja Buckley online. (Edit, 3/2/06: Dr. Buckley died in 2005.)
Jos, Nigeria is in the throes of civil war. Nigeria has not been affected by AIDS as profoundly as other African countries, but it is a significant problem.

The book is a relatively quick and easy read. Although it is out of print, it is not hard to find.

I have had this book since it was first published. It is a fascinating story of how they first learned of the Lassa Virus and how they tracked it down, isolated it, and finally identified it as a killer virus. This is a true story with all of the drama of a fine mystery novel. I would encourage anyone interested in microbiology, public health, epidemiology, medicine, nursing, or anyone who loves a good mystery to read this book. It is an excellent book. It is a book I have read more than once and keep in my library. I will never get rid of this book. My paperback copy is old and that is why I was looking this up online. I was thinking about getting another copy.

Reads like a first class suspense novel.. and you swear you experienced it all first-hand after reading it.. good, accurate science.. nice history on CDC and other agencies and the way things were handled during this time frame.