Zombie Curse: A Doctor's 25-year Journey into the Heart of the AIDS Epidemic in Haiti [Hardcover]

M.D. Arthur M. Fournier (Author), Daniel Herlihy (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 15, 2006 | ISBN-10: 0309097363 | ISBN-13: 978-0309097369 | Edition: 1

This memoir of a dedicated doctor battling the AIDS epidemic in Haiti does more than chronicle the story of a horrible disease. "The Zombie Curse: A Doctor's 25-Year Journey into the Heart of the AIDS Epidemic in Haiti" is a moving tribute to the abundant courage, resilience, and dignity of a people beset by tragedy. Arthur M Fournier, MD, with Daniel Herlihy, met his first AIDS patient on an autumn afternoon in 1979. Of course, neither Fournier nor his colleagues at Miami's Jackson Memorial Hospital fully understood the chilling impact of what they were seeing. They were simply confounded by the fact that the patient failed to respond to treatment and, ultimately, died. During the next several months scores of additional patients presented themselves with similar symptoms and met the same fate.Beyond the medical similarities, there was another bond that grouped these patients together: they were all Haitian immigrants. The zombie curse had descended on south Florida. As the AIDS epidemic unfolded around the world, Dr Fournier witnessed the chaos, confusion, and blame that was to become associated with this baffling disease. Nothing in his background, education, or training prepared him for the journey that lay ahead. The death and misery were devastating, the disease frustrating and mysterious, and the spiritual toll as catastrophic as the physical. It soon became apparent that science alone could not win this epic battle.We follow Dr Fournier to Haiti where he searches for ways to treat patients with AIDS and not simply the physical symptoms, but also the stereotyping and blame heaped on both the victims and even the doctors that tend to them. In large measure it is the generous spirit of a proud people that move and motivate Fournier, ultimately releasing him from his own zombie curse. This memoir of a dedicated doctor battling the AIDS epidemic in Haiti does more than chronicle the story of a horrible disease. It is a moving tribute to the abundant courage, resilience, and dignity of a people beset by tragedy.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Fournier sends out a cry from the front lines about the overwhelming role poverty plays in the spread of AIDS. His awakening came in the early 1980s when, as a faculty physician at the University of Miami Medical School, he saw AIDS spreading through the city's Haitian population. He tells stories of patients—men, women and children—with clear signs of AIDS (believed at that time to be a disease of gay men and drug users) and how they were stigmatized by medical personnel. Among others, Fournier gives a moving account of Regis, a Haitian dentist who, may have contacted the virus through his work in medically primitive conditions. The author became completely committed to understanding this illness, and with supportive colleagues he traveled many times to Haiti and founded Project Medishare, devoted to improving Haiti's health-care system. He was especially successful in the town of Thomonde, establishing an initiative to train physicians and nurses. Fournier offers brutal descriptions of the poverty that fuels AIDS in Haiti, a country where malnutrition reigns, young women are forced into prostitution and orphanages abound. B&w photos. (Apr.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Book Description

This memoir of a dedicated doctor battling the AIDS epidemic in Haiti does more than chronicle the story of a horrible disease. It is a moving tribute to the abundant courage, resilience, and dignity of a people beset by tragedy.The Zombie Curse A Doctor’s 25-Year Journey into the Heart of the AIDS Epidemic in Haiti Arthur M. Fournier, M.D., with Daniel Herlihy Dr. Art Fournier met his first AIDS patient on an autumn afternoon in 1979. Of course, neither Fournier nor his colleagues at Miami’s Jackson Memorial Hospital fully understood the chilling impact of what they were seeing. They were simply confounded by the fact that the patient failed to respond to treatment and, ultimately, died. During the next several months scores of additional patients presented themselves with similar symptoms—and met the same fate. Beyond the medical similarities, there was another bond that grouped these patients together: they were all Haitian immigrants. The zombie curse had descended on south Florida. As the AIDS epidemic unfolded around the world, Dr. Fournier witnessed the chaos, confusion, and blame that was to become associated with this baffling disease. Nothing in his background, education, or training prepared him for the journey that lay ahead. The death and misery were devastating, the disease frustrating and mysterious, and the spiritual toll as catastrophic as the physical. It soon became apparent that science alone could not win this epic battle. We follow Dr. Fournier to Haiti where he searches for ways to treat patients with AIDS—not simply the physical symptoms, but also the stereotyping and blame heaped on both the victims and even the doctors that tend to them. In large measure it is the generous spirit of a proud people that move and motivate Fournier, ultimately releasing him from his own zombie curse. This memoir of a dedicated doctor battling the AIDS epidemic in Haiti does more than chronicle the story of a horrible disease. It is a moving tribute to the abundant courage, resilience, and dignity of a people beset by tragedy.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: Joseph Henry Press; 1 edition (April 15, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0309097363
• ISBN-13: 978-0309097369
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.3 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 (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #752,322 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An outstanding account of the terrible first years of the AIDS epidemic, June 4, 2006

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Zombie Curse: A Doctor's 25-year Journey into the Heart of the AIDS Epidemic in Haiti (Hardcover)

The Zombie Curse: A Doctor's Twenty-Five-Year Journey Into The Heart Of The Aids Epidemic In Haiti by Arthur M. Fournier (Physician at the Jackson Memorial Hospital and Professor of Family Medicine and Internal Medicine and Vice-Chairman of Family Medicine and Associate Dean for Community Health in Miami, Florida) is the remarkable story of Dr. Fournier's passionate struggle to understanding the terrifying truths of the AIDS virus. Having first been introduced to an AIDS patient in 1979, Fournier determined to take action in helping to discover the cure for this lethal epidemic as it swiftly unfolded throughout the United States and the world. The Zombie Curse reveals the devastation experienced by the Haitian people as the prescriptions offered had little or no effect on the patients, and the broadening tragedy became increasingly pervasive through Haitian society. Very strongly recommended for all non-specialist general readers seeking a greater understanding of the early years of the AIDS outbreak, The Zombie Curse is an outstanding account of the terrible first years of AIDS epidemic and a first-hand account of the often empty pursuit of helping the Haitian victims AIDS.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Zombie Curse inspirational to those who want to make a difference..., May 2, 2008

By 

Jackie Ransom "Sharing Light" (Missouri, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Zombie Curse: A Doctor's 25-year Journey into the Heart of the AIDS Epidemic in Haiti (Hardcover)

May 2, 2008
I'm grateful for this true story of a courageous man who shows us all how one person can make a difference, if we only will wake up to our opportunities. Initially I checked out The Zombie Curse: A Doctor's 25-year Journey into the Heart of the AIDS Epidemic in Haiti from our local library as I was preparing to go on a five-day humanitarian trip to Haiti with some students and a professor to install a water purification system at an orphanage. I liked this true story of Dr. Arthur M. Fournier's work with Haitians so much that I bought six copies, one for each of us who went to Haiti, to inspire us to perhaps one day return to our Haitian friends and do more that we have already done to help them improve their quality of life.
Yes, there is much need in places like Haiti. As we choose to start someplace as Americans who care about helping others, especially children, to get their basic life needs met, we will find that we are awakened from the Zombie Curse that has afflicted too many of us up to now. I've been asleep for the most part, too. By small things are great things brought to pass. If we can but throw back into the nourishing sea but one star fish ... it will matter to at least that one, and to those who come after that one!
Part one of the book, The Curse Descends, covers Dr. Fournier's work in Florida with Haitians back when AIDS was just being recognized. Part two, Secrets Revealed, goes into depth about the work Dr. Fournier has done in Haiti itself over the past 25¬+ years. His compassionate willingness to get involved and to open doors for hard-working Haitians who have vision for their country, and his ongoing mentoring of medical students who want to learn and help, makes this book a must-read if you, too, feel you want to understand how you can make a difference in one corner of this vineyard we call planet earth.
Jackie Ransom, Missouri