Barry, John M. - The Great Influenza, Parts II and III
Sun, Apr. 26th, 2020 11:16 pmThis got much more interesting once Barry stopped talking about assorted scientists with very little context and finally starting providing actual context for the 1918 pandemic!
Part II, The Swarm, covers viruses in general and how they work, and the influenza virus in particular. The H and N in the various influenza virus names (H1N1, H5N1, etc.) are hemagglutinin and neuraminidase, the two antigens on the virus. They occur in a ton of different shapes, each with subtypes, and the influenza virus also mutates extremely quickly because it's an RNA virus. (The RNA means there is less double-checking than there would be if it used DNA to replicate itself.) Influenza viruses originate in birds, and they probably migrate to humans via intermediary animals like pigs. One theory is that pigs have some receptors that can bind to bird or human viruses, so they can be infected by both, and the viruses mix their parts together.
If you can't tell, I found this part much, much more interesting than the assortment of scientists from Part I. I did, however, want to know if you are immune to all H1N1 influenza types if you have gotten one. It sounded like even after the numbering of the Hs and the Ns, there were still subtypes, but I couldn't tell how distinct those subtypes were, or if the main difference was in which shape of H and N the virus has.
In "The Tinderbox," Barry gives an overview of the US's entrance into World War I and how it mobilized various civilians, medical experts, and etc. Herein Welch reenters the picture, although I still can't quite say what he did. It's particularly weird that Barry emphasizes all these great scientists, because I feel in a later part, he basically has to detail how they all go down the wrong path when trying to research influenza. The poor nurses only get a paragraph or two, and they get blamed for a shortage in nurses because they consistently refused to let some of the doctors enlist "practical nurses," who would have less training than "graduate nurses."
I feel there is a whole book here on doctors vs. nurses and the status and respect (or lack thereof) given to nurses, but clearly Barry is not interested. Boo.
There's also a lot about censorship in the name of the war effort, which will come into play later when the pandemic kicks off.
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rachelmanija's review of Parts II and III
Part II, The Swarm, covers viruses in general and how they work, and the influenza virus in particular. The H and N in the various influenza virus names (H1N1, H5N1, etc.) are hemagglutinin and neuraminidase, the two antigens on the virus. They occur in a ton of different shapes, each with subtypes, and the influenza virus also mutates extremely quickly because it's an RNA virus. (The RNA means there is less double-checking than there would be if it used DNA to replicate itself.) Influenza viruses originate in birds, and they probably migrate to humans via intermediary animals like pigs. One theory is that pigs have some receptors that can bind to bird or human viruses, so they can be infected by both, and the viruses mix their parts together.
If you can't tell, I found this part much, much more interesting than the assortment of scientists from Part I. I did, however, want to know if you are immune to all H1N1 influenza types if you have gotten one. It sounded like even after the numbering of the Hs and the Ns, there were still subtypes, but I couldn't tell how distinct those subtypes were, or if the main difference was in which shape of H and N the virus has.
In "The Tinderbox," Barry gives an overview of the US's entrance into World War I and how it mobilized various civilians, medical experts, and etc. Herein Welch reenters the picture, although I still can't quite say what he did. It's particularly weird that Barry emphasizes all these great scientists, because I feel in a later part, he basically has to detail how they all go down the wrong path when trying to research influenza. The poor nurses only get a paragraph or two, and they get blamed for a shortage in nurses because they consistently refused to let some of the doctors enlist "practical nurses," who would have less training than "graduate nurses."
I feel there is a whole book here on doctors vs. nurses and the status and respect (or lack thereof) given to nurses, but clearly Barry is not interested. Boo.
There's also a lot about censorship in the name of the war effort, which will come into play later when the pandemic kicks off.
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rachelmanija's review of Parts II and III