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The Pandemic Century

Page 45

by The Pandemic Century- One Hundred Years of Panic, Hysteria


  322 underlying medical conditions: “Chikungunya Fever Guide,” accessed August 3, 2017, http://www.chikungunya.in/dengue-chikungunya-differences.shtml.

  322 growing in severity: Dick Brathwaite et al., “The History of Dengue Outbreaks in the Americas,” The American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene 87, no. 4 (October 3, 2012): 584–93, doi:10.4269/ajtmh.2012.11–0770.

  322 areas of endemic transmission: WHO, “Dengue and severe dengue,” accessed August 3, 2017, http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs117/en/.

  323 “Chikungunya: The Mission”: Carlos Brito, interview with author, January 5 and July 24, 2017.

  324 glass of wine: Brito, interview with author, January 5 and July 24, 2017.

  325 “struggle to get grants”: Donald McNeil, Zika: The Emerging Epidemic (New York: Norton, 2016), 30.

  000 highly neurotropic: “Alexander Haddow and Zika Virus,” Flickr, accessed August 7, 2017, https://www.flickr.com/photos/uofglibrary/albums/72157668781044525; McNeil, Zika, 19–22; G. W. A. Dick, “Zika Virus (II). Pathogenicity and Physical Properties,” Transactions of The Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene 46, no. 5 (1952): 521–34.

  326 do not seek medical attention: Mary Kay Kindhauser et al., “Zika: the origin and spread of a mosquito-borne virus,” Bulletin of the World Health Organization 94 (2016): 675–686C, accessed August 7, 2016, http://www.who.int/bulletin/online_first/16–171082/en/.

  327 bloodshot eyes: McNeil, Zika, 41.

  327 diagnosed with Guillain-Barré: McNeil, Zika, 43–45.

  329 had Guillain-Barré syndrome: Rachel Becker, “Missing Link: Animal Models to Study Whether Zika Causes Birth Defects,” Nature Medicine 22, no. 3 (March 2016): 225–27.

  330 The email concluded: Rohrer, “Enigma,” 19–23.

  331 his office at IAM: Ernesto Marques, interview with author, July 24, 2017.

  331 “It needed a vector”: Braga, “How a Small Team of Doctors Convinced the World to Stop Ignoring Zika.”

  331 “not to cry too”: Brito, interview with author, July 24, 2017.

  333 indicating fetal microcephaly: G. Calvet et al., “Detection and Sequencing of Zika Virus from Amniotic Fluid of Fetuses with Microcephaly in Brazil: A Case Study,” The Lancet Infectious Diseases 16, no. 6 (June 1, 2016): 653–60.

  333 “explanation,” she said: Braga, “How a Small Team of Doctors Convinced the World.”

  334 over the 2010 rate: “Neurological syndrome, congenital malformations, and Zika virus infection. Implication for public health in the Americas,” PAHO, Epidemiological Alert, December 1, 2015, accessed August 10, 2017, http://www.paho.org/hq/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11599&Itemid=41691&lang=en.

  338 reported at the time: David Heymann et al., “Zika Virus and Microcephaly: Why Is This Situation a PHEIC?,” The Lancet 387, no. 10020 (February 20, 2016): 719–21.

  338 “‘only Brazil’ any more”: Margaret Chan, “Zika: we must be ready for the long haul,” February 1, 2017, accessed August 10, 2017, http://www.who.int/mediacentre/commentaries/2017/zika-long-haul/en/.

  338 “linked to the Zika virus”: WHO, “Zika: Then, now and tomorrow,” accessed August 10, 2017, http://www.who.int/features/2017/zika-then-now/en/.

  339 travel to Brazil: Jonathan Watts, “Rio Olympics Committee Warns Athletes to Take Precautions against Zika Virus,” The Guardian, February 2, 2016, accessed August 11, 2017, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/feb/02/zika-virus-rio-2016-olympics-athletes.

  339 had contracted the virus: Jonathan Ball, “No One is Safe from Zika: Confirmation that Mosquito-borne Virus Does Shrink Heads of Unborn Babies . . . and a Chilling Warning,” Daily Mail, January 31, 2016, accessed August 11, 2017, http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3424776/No-one-safe-Zika-Confirmation-mosquito-borne-virus-does-shrink-heads-unborn-babies-chilling-warning.html.

  339 “head-shrinking bug”: Julian Robinson, “Living with ‘Zika’: Brazilian Parents Pose with Their Children Suffering from Head-shrinking Bug to Highlight Their Plight,” Daily Mail, February 25, 2016, accessed August 11, 2017, http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3464023/Living-Zika-Brazilian-parents-pose-children-suffering-head-shrinking-bug-highlight-plight.html#ixzz4pR4i82UG.

  340 “gasoline on the fire”: Nadia Khomani, “Greg Rutherford Freezes Sperm over Olympics Zika Fears,” The Guardian, June 7, 2016, accessed August 11, 2017, https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/jun/07/greg-rutherford-freezes-sperm-over-olympics-zika-fears.

  340 was the culprit: Andrew Jacobs, “Conspiracy Theories About Zika Spread Through Brazil with the Virus,” New York Times, February 16, 2016, accessed August 11, 2017, https://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/17/world/americas/conspiracy-theories-about-zika-spread-along-with-the-virus.html.

  341 protests about “chemical warfare”: Sarah Boseley, “Florida Issues Warning after Cluster of New Zika Cases in Miami Neighborhood,” The Guardian, August 1, 2016, accessed August 11, 2017, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/aug/01/florida-zika-cases-transmission-neighborhood-miami-dade-county; Jessica Glenza, “Zika Virus Scare is Turning Miami’s Hipster Haven into a Ghost Town, The Guardian, August 10, 2016, accessed August 11, 2017, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/aug/10/zika-virus-miami-florida-cases-mosquito-wynwood; Richard Luscombe, “Miami Beach Protests against use of Naled to fight Zika-carrying Mosquitos,” The Guardian, September 8, 2017, accessed August 11, 2017, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/sep/08/miami-beach-zika-protests-naled-mosquitos.

  341 Brazil’s Ministry of Health: N. R. Faria et al., “Establishment and Cryptic Transmission of Zika Virus in Brazil and the Americas,” Nature 546, no. 7658 (June 15, 2017): 406–10.

  344 “each and every one”: Celina Turchi, interview with author, July 24, 2017.

  345 33 cm to 32 cm: Ilana Löwy, “Zika and Microcephaly: Can we Learn from History?,” Revista de Saúde Coletiva 26, no. 1 (2016): 11–21.

  345 categorized as microcephalic: C. G. Victora et al., “Microcephaly in Brazil: How to Interpret Reported Numbers?,” The Lancet 387, no. 10019 (February 13, 2016): 621-24.

  345 observed in the United States: W. K. Oliveira et al., “Infection-related Microcephaly after the 2015 and 2016 Zika Virus Outbreaks in Brazil: A Surveillance-based Analysis,” The Lancet 6736, no. 17 (June 21, 2017): 31368–5.

  346 was 95 percent: W. Kleber de Oliveira et al., “Infection-Related Microcephaly after the 2015 and 2016 Zika Virus Outbreaks in Brazil: A Surveillance-Based Analysis,” The Lancet, June 21, 2017, accessed March 19, 2018, https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140–6736(17)313 68–5.

  346 she cannot be sure: Stephanie Nolen, “Two Years after Brazil’s Zika Virus Crisis, Experts Remain Baffled,” The Globe and Mail, September 1, 2017, accessed September 2, 2017, https://beta.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/zika-crisis-brazil/article36142168/.

  347 Zika infections more severe: Priscila M. S. Castanha et al., “Dengue Virus- Specific Antibodies Enhance Brazilian Zika Virus Infection,” The Journal of Infectious Diseases 215, no. 5 (January 3, 2017): 781–85.

  351 mosquitoes that transmit malaria: Ewen Callaway, “Rio fights Zika with Biggest Release Yet of Bacteria-infected Mosquitoes,” Nature News 539, no. 7627 (November 3, 2016): 17.

  355 “cried the whole time”: Liana Ventura, interview with author, July 28, 2017.

  357 “children affected by Zika”: “Neglected and Unprotected: The Impact of the Zika Outbreak on Women and Girls in Northeastern Brazil,” Human Rights Watch, July 12, 2017, accessed August 24, 2017, https://www.hrw.org/news/2017/07/12/brazil-zika-epidemic-exposes-rights-problems.

  359 is a jet ski: Rob Sawers, “The beautiful Brazilian beaches plagued by shark attacks,” BBC World News, September 27, 2012, accessed August 22, 2017, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-radio-and-tv-19720455.

  359 west coast of Africa: Andrew Spielman and Michael D’Antonio, Mosquito: The Story of Man’s Deadliest Foe (New York: Hyperion, 2001).

  359 chained below decks: “Aedes Albopictus—Factsheet for Experts,” Euro
pean Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, accessed October 6, 2017, http://ecdc.europa.eu/en/disease-vectors/facts/mosquito-factsheets/aedes-albopictus.

  EPILOGUE: THE PANDEMIC CENTURY

  361 appears to be increasing: Commission on a Global Health Risk Framework for the Future, and National Academy of Medicine, Secretariat, The Neglected Dimension of Global Security: A Framework to Counter Infectious Disease Crises (Washington, DC: National Academies Press, 2016), accessed September 26, 2017, http://www.nap.edu/catalog/21891.

  363 “sick of the world”: Crosby, America’s Forgotten Pandemic, xiii.

  365 rodent and primate: Kai Kupferschmidt, “Bats Really Do Harbor More Dangerous Viruses than Other Species,” Science, June 21, 2017, accessed September 28, 2017, http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2017/06/bats-really-do-harbor-more-dangerous-viruses-other-species.

  365 present in the environment: Kate E. Jones et al., “Global Trends in Emerging Infectious Diseases,” Nature 451, no. 7181 (February 21, 2008): 990–93.

  365 “nothing is stable”: René Dubos, “Infection into Disease,” Perspectives in Biology and Medicine 1, no. 4 (January 7, 2015): 425–35.

  365 “ecological equilibrium”: Dubos, Mirage of Health, 271.

  365 “currently unknown to cause”: WHO, 2018 Annual review of diseases prioritized under the Research and Development Blueprint, February 6–7, 2018, accessed April 1, 2018, http://www.who.int/blueprint/priority-diseases/en/.

  366 his charitable foundation: “Bill Gates: A New Kind of Terrorism Could Wipe out 30 Million People in Less than a Year—and We Are Not Prepared,” Business Insider, accessed October 8, 2017, http://uk.businessinsider.com/bill-gates-op-ed-bio-terrorism-epidemic-world-threat-2017–2.

  366 emerging viruses more quickly: Sarah Boseley, “Resolve Health Initiative Aims to Save 100m Lives Worldwide,” Guardian, September 12, 2017, accessed October 8, 2017, https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/sep/12/resolve-health-initiative-aims-to-save-100m-lives-worldwide-tom-frieden.

  366 “likely to cause a pandemic”: “Pandemic Emergency Financing Facility: Frequently Asked Questions,” World Bank, accessed October 8, 2017, http://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/pandemics/brief/pandemic-emergency-facility-frequently-asked-questions.

  367 “plan to prevent them”: David M. Morens and Jeffery K. Taubenberger, “Pandemic Influenza: Certain Uncertainties,” Reviews in Medical Virology 21, no. 5 (September 2011): 262–84.

  368 other special interests: “Dr. Wolfgang Wodarg—Council of Europe Will Investigate and Debate on ‘Faked Pandemic,’ ” accessed October 8, 2017, http://www.wodarg.de/english/2948146.html.

  368 “and it doesn’t occur”: Sontag, AIDS and Its Metaphors, 87.

  ILLUSTRATIONS INSERT

  Emergency influenza ward: In March 1918 more than 1,200 soldiers were hopitalized when an influenza-like illness swept through Camp Funston at Fort Riley, Kansas. Some experts believe this was the herald of the spring wave of Spanish flu.

  One of the key diagnostic signs of Spanish flu was heliotrope cyanosis, the three stages of which are shown here in an illustration by W. Thornton Shiells. Caused by deoxygenation of arterial blood as the lungs filled with choking fluids, the condition nearly always ended in death.

  742 Clara Street: The so-called death house at the center of the 1924 pneumonic plague outbreak in the Mexican quarter of Los Angeles.

  Squirrel hunters with one day’s bag of 178 ground squirrels. To remove the threat of plague from downtown Los Angeles, the health department offered $1 for every dead squirrel or rat brought to its laboratory at Eighth Street.

  Exterior view of the Hygienic Laboratory, Washington, DC. Located at Twenty-Fifth Street and E Street NW, it was here that George McCoy conducted experiments on parrots infected with psittacosis in 1930.

  Charles Armstrong, pictured in his lab coat circa 1950, was one of the “heroes” of the parrot fever outbreak. After contracting the infection and recovering, his serum was used to treat the wife of an Idaho senator.

  Bellevue-Stratford Hotel, Philadelphia: In the summer of 1976, the CDC recorded 182 cases of Legionnaires’ disease following an American Legion convention at the hotel.

  William Darrow’s “cluster study” for the CDC tracing the sexual contacts of early homosexual male AIDS patients in southern California. Many people misread the “O,” designating “Out[side]-of-California,” as a zero, leading to Gaetan Dugas being erroneously dubbed “Patient Zero” of America’s AIDS epidemic.

  “Stop Worrying About How You Won’t Get AIDS. And Worry About How You Can.”: A CDC poster from the early 1980s correcting popular misconceptions about the transmission of HIV.

  View of the Metropark Kowloon on Waterloo Road, Hong Kong. In February 2003, sixteen guests at the hotel, then known as the Metropole, were infected with SARS after a Chinese professor who was incubating the virus checked in.

  Hong Kong is one of the most densely populated cities in the world. Its proximity to Guangdong in southern China makes it a “sentinel” for new strains of bird flu and other emerging infectious diseases.

  A typical Hong Kong street scene showing multiple occupancy apartments. The average Hong Kong adult has just two square meters of living space.

  “Avoid Unsafe Burials”: Public health messaging on a roundabout in Aberdeen, a suburb of Freetown, Sierra Leone, warning people of the dangers of touching or washing the bodies of Ebola victims.

  Mohamed Sow, a driver for Tulane’s Lassa Fever research program, visits the grave of Mbalu J. Fonnie at Dama Road Cemetery in Kenema, Sierra Leone. Fonnie was one of eleven nurses who died when Ebola ripped through wards of Kenema General Hospital in July and August 2014.

  Electronic sign sponsored by the Disasters Emergency Committee at Westfield shopping center in West London appealing for donations to aid the medical and humanitarian relief effort for Ebola in West Africa.

  “Danger – Shark Zone” A sign on the beach at Boa Viagem near Recife in northeastern Brazil warning bathers to avoid swimming at high tide and other times when sharks are active. Recife was also one of the cities hardest hit by the Zika epidemic.

  ILLUSTRATION CREDITS

  Emergency influenza ward: OHA 250 New Contributed Photographs, No. 1603, Otis Historical Collections, National Museum of Health and Medicine.

  Heliotrope cyanosis: UK Crown Copyright.

  742 Clara Street: Photographic documentation of pneumonic plague outbreak sites and rats in Los Angeles [graphic], BANC PIC 1988.052:046-PIC, Box 1, V. L. Courtesy of the Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.

  Squirrel hunters: Photographic documentation of pneumonic plague outbreak sites and rats in Los Angeles [graphic], BANC PIC 1988.052:018-PIC, Box L, volume 1. Courtesy of the Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.

  Hygienic Laboratory: National Library of Medicine, NLM Unique ID: 101447525.

  Charles Armstrong: National Library of Medicine, NLM Unique ID: 101409454.

  Bellevue-Stratford Hotel: Library of Congress: US National Register of Historic Places.

  Darrow “cluster study”: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and William Darrow, PhD.

  AIDS poster: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

  Metropark Kowloon: Mark Honigsbaum.

  Hong Kong skyline: Mark Honigsbaum.

  Hong Kong apartments: Mark Honigsbaum.

  “Unsafe Burials” poster: Mark Honigsbaum.

  Sow at Fonnie’s Grave: Mark Honigsbaum.

  Ebola donation ad: Mark Honigsbaum.

  Shark warning poster: Mark Honigsbaum.

  INDEX

  Page numbers listed correspond to the print edition of this book. You can use your device’s search function to locate particular terms in the text.

  Abumonbazi, 223

  achromatic lenses, 37

  Acute Communicable Disesase Control, 148–49

  Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS), 59, 244

  Afghanistan, 226

  Africa,
3

  AIDS in, 219, 221–29, 225, 232, 233, 363 (see also specific countries)

  colonialism in, 199, 227–30

  disruption of social relations in, 199, 230–31

  distrust of foreign medical aid in, 291–93

  early cases of AIDS in, 231

  Ebola in, 277–85, 286

  economic, social, and cultural change in, 199, 227, 230–32

  environmental change in, 231–32

  globalization and, 227

  mass polio vaccination campaigns in, 225

  mega-cities in, 362

  public health and humanitarian medical initiatives in, 199

  African Americans, 27

  African horse sickness, 41

  agar media, 205, 396n

  Agent Orange, 170

  AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome), 9–10, 193–235, 213

  conspiracy theories and, 225–26, 403n

  cultural causes and factors and, 13–14

  as death sentence, 212

  early cases of, 221–24, 231

  economic, social, and cultural factors, 13–14

  economic, social, and cultural factors in, 199–200

  as EID, 234

  environmental causes and factors and, 13–14, 231–32

  as “epidemic of fear,” 213

  etiology of, 207, 216, 225

  framed as disease of gay lifestyles, 211

  hysteria of 1980s, 10

  index case for, 218–20, 218n

  latency and slow onset of, 363

  medical technologies and, 199–200, 202, 227–29, 233

  as metaphor, 210–11

  mother–child transmission of, 220–21

  naming of, 198

  panic about, 200–201, 211–13

  poor public health messaging around, 212–16, 220–21

  principal risk groups for, 211, 213, 215, 363

 

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