On the centennial of a global influenza pandemic that infected 500 million people and killed up to 100 million of them, Jeremy Brown, a former ER doctor who is now a director at the National Institutes of Health, has written Influenza: The Hundred Year Hunt to Cure the Deadliest Disease in History. It is an accessible, straightforward and often riveting history of this seasonal menace and the many thwarted attempts to defeat it.
Brown wrote this book because he believes that, despite this century's great advances in science and medicine, the world has not effectively learned from the so-called "Spanish flu." The 2017 flu season was the deadliest in decades. "Because of its mystery, and its ability to mutate and spread, the flu is one of mankind's most dangerous foes," Brown writes. "The lessons of 1918 may be our only inoculation against a deadly sequel."
But Influenza isn't all alarmist gloom. In fact, it's brisk, entertaining and written with an endearing zeal. Brown weaves the history and context of the 1918 pandemic into the more contemporary story of how teams of adventurous scientists "resurrected" that year's deadly strain and studied it. He then discusses the complicated development, politics and business of weapons against the flu: vaccines (only partially effective at best) and Tamiflu (as it turns out, not effective at all).
He also points out how recent attempts to combat the flu with data have proven only that this shapeshifting, elusive virus is always a few crucial steps ahead of us. (See: Google's discontinued "Flu Tracker" feature.) Brown compares it with a "criminal who makes convincing disguises, who can easily disappear into a crowd."
Notably, Influenza is layperson-friendly; Brown's explanations of virology and epidemiology are clearly meant to reach a wide audience of readers. That said, those who do have scientific backgrounds will still appreciate the book, if only for the fascinating historical insights. For example, the reason it was called the "Spanish flu" is not what you think, and it's not fair to Spain. And one reason the death toll in 1918 was so high was because the recommended treatments for the flu at the time--such as bloodletting, mercury-laced laxatives, staggeringly high doses of aspirin and exposure to toxic gas--were themselves fatal.
Brown concludes the book with an elegant memorial to the flu pandemic of 1918 in order to more clearly define it in our collective consciousness. He argues that this century has been one of catastrophe and strife, but also one of mass expansion, technological breakthroughs and medical victories--and "the flu pandemic," he writes, "tells both these stories." --Hannah Calkins, writer and editor in Washington, D.C.
Shelf Talker: Part history lesson, part investigative report and part public service announcement, Influenza shows us how far we've come since 1918--and how far we have to go.