Smallpox: The Death of a Disease: The Inside Story of Eradicating a Worldwide Killer
340
Smallpox: The Death of a Disease: The Inside Story of Eradicating a Worldwide Killer
340Paperback
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Overview
With a New Introduction by Phillip K. Peterson, M.D., author of Microbes: The Life-Changing Story of Germs
For more than 3000 years, hundreds of millions of people have died or been left permanently scarred or blind by the
relentless, incurable disease called smallpox. In 1967, Dr. D.A. Henderson became director of a worldwide campaign to eliminate this disease from the face of the earth. This spellbinding book is Dr. Henderson's personal story of how he led the World Health Organization's campaign to eradicate smallpox--the only disease in history to have been deliberately eliminated. Some have called this feat "the greatest scientific and humanitarian achievement of the past century." This latest edition features a new introduction by Phillip K. Peterson, M.D., in which the infectious diseases expert contends that Dr. Henderson's campaign against smallpox may provide insights towards the fight against COVID-19 and future global pandemics. In a lively, engrossing narrative, Dr. Henderson makes it clear that the gargantuan international effort involved more than straightforward mass vaccination. He and his staff had to cope with civil wars, floods, impassable roads, and refugees as well as formidable bureaucratic and cultural obstacles, shortages of local health personnel and meager budgets. Countries across the world joined in the effort; the United States and the Soviet Union worked together through the darkest cold war days; and professionals from more than 70 nations served as WHO field staff. On October 26, 1976, the last case of smallpox occurred. The disease that annually had killed two million people or more had been vanquished-and in just over ten years. The story did not end there. Dr. Henderson recounts in vivid detail the continuing struggle over whether to destroy the remaining virus in the two laboratories still that held it. Then came the startling discovery that the Soviet Union had been experimenting with smallpox virus as a biological weapon and producing it in large quantities. The threat of its possible use by a rogue nation or a terrorist has had to be taken seriously and Dr. Henderson has been a central figure in plans for coping with it. New methods for mass smallpox vaccination were so successful that he sought to expand the program of smallpox immunization to include polio, measles, whooping cough, diphtheria, and tetanus vaccines. That program now reaches more than four out of five children in the world and is eradicating poliomyelitis. This unique book is to be treasured--a personal and true story that proves that through cooperation and perseverance the most daunting of obstacles can be overcome.
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781633887015 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. |
| Publication date: | 04/01/2021 |
| Pages: | 340 |
| Sales rank: | 205,479 |
| Product dimensions: | 5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.90(d) |
About the Author
Table of Contents
Introduction Phillip K. Peterson, MD 7
Foreword Richard Preston 11
Preface 19
Chapter 1 The Disease, the Virus, and Its History 31
The Oldest of Scourges and the Most Devastating 31
A Case of Smallpox 33
The Virus 35
How long can the smallpox virus survive? 36
Smallpox in Ancient Times 36
Smallpox Becomes Endemic 39
Smallpox and the Settlement of the New World 40
Early Protection against Smallpox 43
Variolation 44
Jenner's Vaccine 46
Needed-A Better Vaccine 51
Calves become vaccinia factories 51
Better distribution-door-to-door coins 52
A heat-stable vaccine 53
A Second Form of Smallpox 53
Smallpox Begins to Lose Ground 55
Chapter 2 The World Decides to Eradicate Smallpox 57
The Beginning of the Eradication Saga 57
1953: A Global Eradication Program Is Proposed-and Rejected 60
1958: The Soviet Union Makes a New Proposal to Eradicate Smallpox 61
Mission Impossible? 62
The US Communicable Disease Center Becomes Engaged with Smallpox 66
Concerns about vaccine complications 67
The United States Offers to Support a West Africa Program-A Startling Development 69
The Director-General Challenges the 1966 Assembly 74
Chapter 3 Creating A Global Program 79
A Program in Its Infancy 79
Countries, Fiefdoms, and Short-Circuiting the Bureaucracy 85
The Creation of the Program Budget 86
How Many Smallpox Cases? 87
The Realities of Executing a Simple, Two-Part Strategy 89
Mass-vaccination strategy 89
Surveillance and containment-a new component 90
Availability of Vaccine-An Apparently Soluble Problem Is Anything But 92
Vaccination Techniques-There Have to Be Better Ways 94
Communication-Conflict and Controversy 97
Off and on the World Health Assembly agendas 98
Three reporting systems become one 99
A surveillance report threatens the whole program 100
Diplomatic Challenges-The Cold War and Other Problems 101
Yet Another Problem-Obtaining a Competent Staff 103
Results of a Transformation 105
Chapter 4 Where to begin? A tale of two countries-Brazil and Indonesia 107
Stonewalling 109
The Brazilian Program-A Regrettable Saga 110
Vaccine problems 113
Surveillance-containment saves the day 114
The program staggers to a finish 115
A last regrettable chapter-certifying eradication in South America 117
Indonesia-A Remarkable Achievement with Few Resources 118
Certification of Eradication-A Serious Effort Is Made 125
Chapter 5 Africa-A Formidable and Complicated Challenge 129
An Early Start in West Africa 131
Surveillance-containment is renamed "Eradication-Escalation" 136
Smallpox Is Eradicated from Africa's Two Largest Countries 139
Zaire-major epidemic center at the heart of Africa 140
Sudan-a smallpox-free country becomes infected 144
Eastern Africa-A Mass-Vaccination Achievement 149
Southern Africa 151
The Botswana debacle 154
The Lessons of Africa 156
Chapter 6 India and Nepal-a Natural Home of Endemic Smallpox 157
An Ambitious National Program Is Created-1962 158
The Program Nearly Collapses-1967-1969 159
A Resurrection of the Program-1970 162
An Unexpected Catastrophe in West Bengal-Refugees from East Pakistan-1971 164
The "Final Phase"-Target Zero-Delusional Optimism-1972 165
The Ultimate Strategy-1973 170
The Darkest Days of AH-January to June 1974 177
Yet another catastrophe 179
A Summer Program-1974 181
Chapter 7 Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Bangladesh-the Last Stronghold of Variola Major 187
Afghanistan 189
Pakistan (West Pakistan Province before December 1971) 195
Bangladesh: The End of Variola Major 198
A renewed eradication program begins-1968 200
Civil war-March 1971 201
Reinfection-December 1971 202
The epidemic spreads-1972 203
The disaster of November 1973 and recovery 205
Bulldozers, floods, and famine trigger yet another disaster-1974 207
One Last Disaster-1975 211
Chapter 8 Ethiopia and Somalia-the Last Countries With Smallpox 213
Ethiopia 216
Troubles in beginning the program 216
The tip of the iceberg-1971-1972 219
Disaster: drought, famine, hordes of refugees-1974 223
Floods, fighting, and unexpected news-1975 225
Somalia: An Epidemic That Should Never Have Happened 229
Smallpox before 1975 231
Growing suspicions 232
Smallpox uncovered in Mogadishu-September 1976 232
Lies, cover-ups, and secret records 236
The Last Case 239
Chapter 9 Smallpox-Post-Eradication 241
Eradication-What Does It Mean and How Do We Define It? 243
Surveillance and Search 244
A routine reporting system 244
Special searches 245
Rumor registries 245
International Commissions 245
Global Certification of Smallpox Eradication 246
The World Health Assembly-1980 248
Post-Eradication 249
The book and the archives 250
Monkeypox-a potential threat? 252
Reserve stocks of vaccine 254
Laboratories retaining stocks of smallpox virus 255
To Destroy or To Retain the Remaining Stocks of Smallpox Virus 257
The initial steps toward smallpox virus destruction 258
Objections to virus destruction 259
The January 1995 executive board is blocked from taking action 262
Attempts to reconcile an impasse 263
The executive board and the World Health Assembly-1996 and onward 264
Chapter 10 Smallpox as a Biological Weapon 269
Biological Warfare-The Emerging Threat 270
The Soviet Union's secret-a massive bioweapons program 272
The Soviet bioweapons legacy-who eke might have the smallpox virus? 275
An Ill-Prepared United States Awakens to a Threat 276
A symposium changes minds 278
An expert "working group" 279
From working group to a center 280
The Center for Civilian Biodefense Studies 283
The "Dark Winter" Exercise 284
New Challenges-Post-September 11 286
How to Deal with a Smallpox Epidemic 288
The vaccine production miracle 289
The Office of Public Health Emergency Preparedness 290
Let's Vaccinate Everyone! 292
A national vaccination program starts and collapses 296
Smallpox on the International Scene 297
Atlantic Storm-a reminder that smallpox is not to be forgotten 298
Chapter 11 Lessons and Legacies of Smallpox Eradication 301
The Siren Song of Eradication 302
The Legacy of the Smallpox Eradication Program 304
An Expanded Program on Immunization Begins 306
A paradigm for EPI-the program in Latin America 307
New Horizons in Public Health 310
Acknowledgments 313
Sources 315
Index 321