Kolata, Gina - Flu
Sun, Jul. 12th, 2020 09:55 pmSubtitle: The Story of the Great Influenza Pandemic of 1918 and the Search for the Virus That Caused It
I should have written this up sooner, since now I have forgotten many of the details. While Kolata does summarize the 1918 influenza pandemic, most of the book is on the aftermath, from how scientists figured out that a virus was responsible to actually trying to find a sample of the virus and figuring out why it was so virulent.
My big question after finishing Barry's The Great Influenza was how scientists eventually figured out that the influenza was caused by a virus and not by a bacteria. Kolata goes a little into this, but I don't actually remember exactly how people came to the conclusion. I believe it was less a single moment and more lots and lots of experiments that gradually ended up ruling out a bacteria? I also found it kind of hilarious that Kolata gives Barry's favorite scientists one or two lines and then skips over them entirely.
Most of the book is spent on how two different teams of people went looking for samples of the 1918 virus. The U.S. Army had actually preserved several bits of lung sample, but the big discovery was finding the still-frozen body of an Inuit woman in Alaska. I found Kolata's write up of the team that didn't succeed a bit odd, particularly her description of the woman in charge, Kirsty Duncan. There are just a few weird mentions of how attractive Duncan was to the men on the team, and one of the team member's daughters basically accuses her father and Duncan of having an emotional affair.
Also, although the successful team did end up getting the full genetic sequence of the virus, the book makes it sound like everyone is still puzzled as to why the 1918 virus was so deadly. When I finished the book, I felt as though Kolata had written the book too early, although of course one doesn't know if a major scientific discovery is going to be made or not.
I did end up finding an article on the reconstruction of the 1918 virus at the CDC, which was apparently in 2005. They did several experiments, and it seems as though the combination of several things all worked together to make the virus so virulent. My main question is if Kolata had written the book prior to this, and then published it in 2011, and if so, why it wasn't updated. It seems like this would have been good information to have in the book!
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rachelmanija, Ch. 1-2
-rachelmanija, Ch. 3-6
I should have written this up sooner, since now I have forgotten many of the details. While Kolata does summarize the 1918 influenza pandemic, most of the book is on the aftermath, from how scientists figured out that a virus was responsible to actually trying to find a sample of the virus and figuring out why it was so virulent.
My big question after finishing Barry's The Great Influenza was how scientists eventually figured out that the influenza was caused by a virus and not by a bacteria. Kolata goes a little into this, but I don't actually remember exactly how people came to the conclusion. I believe it was less a single moment and more lots and lots of experiments that gradually ended up ruling out a bacteria? I also found it kind of hilarious that Kolata gives Barry's favorite scientists one or two lines and then skips over them entirely.
Most of the book is spent on how two different teams of people went looking for samples of the 1918 virus. The U.S. Army had actually preserved several bits of lung sample, but the big discovery was finding the still-frozen body of an Inuit woman in Alaska. I found Kolata's write up of the team that didn't succeed a bit odd, particularly her description of the woman in charge, Kirsty Duncan. There are just a few weird mentions of how attractive Duncan was to the men on the team, and one of the team member's daughters basically accuses her father and Duncan of having an emotional affair.
Also, although the successful team did end up getting the full genetic sequence of the virus, the book makes it sound like everyone is still puzzled as to why the 1918 virus was so deadly. When I finished the book, I felt as though Kolata had written the book too early, although of course one doesn't know if a major scientific discovery is going to be made or not.
I did end up finding an article on the reconstruction of the 1918 virus at the CDC, which was apparently in 2005. They did several experiments, and it seems as though the combination of several things all worked together to make the virus so virulent. My main question is if Kolata had written the book prior to this, and then published it in 2011, and if so, why it wasn't updated. It seems like this would have been good information to have in the book!
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rachelmanija, Ch. 1-2-
rachelmanija, Ch. 3-6