Synopses & Reviews
During the 2014 Ebola crisis, the public watched with rapt attention as a handful of Americans contracted the deadly fever and were transported to treatment facilities in the United States. We charted the movements of Dr. Craig Spencer, whose three-mile jog and subway ride to a bowling alley became national news, fearing for our lives. Yet the panic far outstripped the reality of the situation; Dr. Spencer survived, and the disease spread no further. The American Ebola outbreak began and ended with two fatalities.
To Dr. Ali Khan, the 2014 Ebola scare was simply another example of public paranoia about infectious disease; he has been on the front lines of each one and#151; and many we didn't hear aboutand#151; over the last 25 years. During the 1995 Ebola outbreak in Zaire, Khan found patient zero; he traveled to Washington, DC, in 2001 as a first responder in the anthrax crisis; and went to southeast Asia to treat patients of SARS. The University of Nebraska Medical Center, where Khan is now Dean of Public Health, is one of four biohazard containment units in the United States; four Ebola patients were treated there in 2014.
In this riveting book, Khan tells the dramatic stories of these crisesand#151;as well as the stories we don't knowand#151;of congo-crimean hemorrhagic fever infecting abattoirs in the United Arab Emirates, as cigarette-smoking local doctors rushed to the scene, for instance; or of being shot at by militias in the African bush while trying to treat monkeypox.
The book's message is every bit as urgent as his stories: we are focused on the wrong problems. Khan reminds us that the danger of an outbreakand#151;more real than ever in the age of climate change and global traveland#151;is not a matter of which disease is the most deadly or violent. Instead, he urges readers to spread good information and practice essential habits.
Untitled CDC Memoir is a vivid and necessary book about rampant and violent diseases, and disasters narrowly avertedand#151; and the tools we need to keep them at bay.
Synopsis
An inside account of the fight to contain the world's deadliest diseases--and the panic and corruption that make them worse
Throughout history, humankind's biggest killers have been infectious diseases: the Black Death, the Spanish Flu, and AIDS alone account for over one hundred million deaths. We ignore this reality most of the time, but when a new threat--Ebola, SARS, Zika--seems imminent, we send our best and bravest doctors to contain it. People like Dr. Ali S. Khan.
In his long career as a public health first responder--protected by a thin mask from infected patients, napping under nets to keep out scorpions, making life-and-death decisions on limited, suspect information--Khan has found that rogue microbes will always be a problem, but outbreaks are often caused by people. We make mistakes, politicize emergencies, and, too often, fail to imagine the consequences of our actions.
The Next Pandemic is a firsthand account of disasters like anthrax, bird flu, and others--and how we could do more to prevent their return. It is both a gripping story of our brushes with fate and an urgent lesson on how we can keep ourselves safe from the inevitable next pandemic.
About the Author
Dr. Ali S. Khan is the former director of the Office of Public Health Preparedness and Response (PHPR) at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In more than 20 years at the CDC, his professional career has focused on emerging infectious diseases, bioterrorism, and global health security. In that position, he oversaw the national public healthandndash;security program with a $1.3 billion budget and 600 employees. The office is responsible for protecting US communities from all publicandndash;health threats. Now dean of the College of Public Health at the University of Nebraska, he lives in Omaha with his family.