The Fatal Strain cover art

The Fatal Strain

On the Trail of Avian Flu and the Coming Pandemic

Preview

Audible Standard 1-month free trial

Auto-renews at $8.99/mo + applicable tax after 30-day trial. Cancel Anytime
Try for $0.00
Compare plans

The Fatal Strain

Written by: Alan Sipress
Narrated by: George K. Wilson
Try for $0.00

$8.99 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for $24.10

Buy Now for $24.10

When avian flu began spreading across Asia in the early 2000s, it reawakened fears that had lain dormant for nearly a century. During the outbreak's deadliest years, Alan Sipress chased the virus as it infiltrated remote jungle villages and teeming cities and saw its mysteries elude the world's top scientists.

In The Fatal Strain, Sipress details how socioeconomic and political realities in Asia make it the perfect petri dish in which the fast-mutating strain can become easily communicable among humans. Once it does, the ease and speed of international travel and worldwide economic interdependence could make it as destructive as the flu pandemic of 1918.

In his vivid portrayal of the struggle between man and microbe, Sipress gives a front-line view of the accelerating number of near misses across Asia and the terrifying truth that the prospects for this impending health crisis may well be in the hands of cockfighters, live chicken merchants, and witch doctors rather than virologists or the World Health Organization.

Like The Hot Zone and The Great Influenza, The Fatal Strain is a fast-moving account that brings the inevitability of an epidemic into a fascinating cultural, scientific, and political narrative.

©2009 Alan Sipress (P)2009 Tantor
Biological Sciences Physical Illness & Disease Science Medicine Health China
adbl_web_anon_alc_button_suppression_t1

What the critics say

"Exemplary---and highly frightening---investigative reporting." ( Kirkus)
No reviews yet