» When Germs Travel: Six Major Epidemics That Have Invaded America and the Fears They Have Unleashed

When Germs Travel: Six Major Epidemics That Have Invaded America and the Fears They Have Unleashed Reviews

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Summary: Acute Observations on Reactions to Disease
Comment: Markel's book discusses the American reaction to six major illnesses that struck the United States in the last century: tuberculosis, typhus, trachoma, bubonic plague, AIDS, and cholera.

He juxtaposes the extremely egalitarian nature of deadly viruses with the decidedly discriminatory responses they evoke in human societies. The common knee-jerk reaction to the onset of disease is to blame the victims, who often are immigrants or 'Other' in some way . While Markel uses specific historical examples to illustrate this point, everything he discusses applies to current global health challenges, such as AIDS in Africa. This negative and unproductive reaction works against the protection of public health, to the detriment of all.

Markel cites other reponses, namely: public overconfidence in the ability to conquer disease; the fear and worry over relatively rare but frightening diseases versus indifference to the slower moving but more long-running and widespread ones; and the tendency to not think about allocating resources before major outbreaks occur.

The message is crystal clear for all those willing to heed Markel's words: global public health is purchasable, and most effective when bought in a preventative capacity.

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Summary: Epidemics and the Fear of the Other
Comment: Howard Markel's When Germs Travel shows what disastrous decisions can be made as fear of the other (often represented by newly arrived immigrants) combines with fear of contagious diseases. The author examines tuberculosis, an early 20th century outbreak of bubonic plague in San Francisco's Chinatown, trachoma at Ellis Island, typhus on the Mexican border, and Haitian refugees with AIDS. He also looks at his own repsonse when a possible case of cholera may be uncovered in Detroit. The author's historical perspective helps make his points all the more clear. We live in a global environment, even more so than in these cases from the past, and the spread of these diseases will have to be tackled at their source through interational coordination financed by the richer nations. Attacking the victims of the disease will be no more effective now than it has been in the past, nor does it go to the root of the problem, such as no access to clean water. This is a powerful little book, particularly the chapters on Chinatown and the Mexican-American border, both in the first decade and a half of the twentienth century. An important read that is both frightening and very cautiously hopeful.

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