San Antonio College Library

"Unravels the mystery of this lethal virus with the high drama of a great adventure story. Kolata tracks the race to recover the live pathogen and probes the fear that has impelled government policy. She delves into the history of the flu and previous epidemics, profiles the experts hot on the trail and the amateurs woefully misguided, and details the science and the latest understanding of this mortal disease"--Hardcover jacket.

"When a new influenza virus emerges that is able to be transmitted between humans, it spreads globally as a pandemic, often with high mortality. Enormous social disruption and substantial economic cost can result. The 1918 Spanish influenza pandemic was undoubtedly the most devastating influenza pandemic to date, and it has been Dr Robert Webster's life's work to figure out how and why. In so doing he has made a remarkable contribution to our understanding...

The flu pandemic that began in 1918 touched with illness virtually every family in America. Making the disease even more frightening was the fact that the cause of influenza was unknown in 1918. The authors have drawn from the medical literature, newspaper accounts and letters, diaries, memoirs, and oral histories to write this social history of what it was like to live during the 1918-20 flu pandemic.--[book cover].