Pandemic - Softcover

Kalla, Daniel

Softcover

ISBN 10: 076535084X ISBN 13: 9780765350848

Publisher: Forge Books, 2005

Synopsis

Genesis of a Plague

Right now, in a remote corner of rural China, a farmer and his family are sharing their water supply with their livestock: chickens, ducks, pigs, sheep. They share the same waste-disposal system, too.

Bird viruses meet their human counterparts in the bloodstreams of the swine, where they mix and mutate before spreading back into the human population. And a new flu is born....

Dr. Noah Haldane, of the World Health Organization, knows that humanity is overdue for a new killer flu, like the great influenza pandemic of 1919 that killed more than twenty million people in less than four months. So when a mysterious new strain of flu is reported in the Gansu Province of mainland China, WHO immediately sends a team to investigate.

Haldane and his colleagues soon discover that the new disease, dubbed Acute Respiratory Collapse Syndrome, is far more deadly than SARS, killing one in four victims, regardless of their age or health. But even as WHO struggles to contain the outbreak, ARCS is already spreading to Hong Kong, London, and even America.

In an age when every single person in the world is connected by three commercial flights or fewer, a killer bug can travel much faster than the flu of 1919.

Especially when someone is spreading the virus on purpose...

About this title

About the Author

Dr. Daniel Kalla is a practicing emergency room physician at a major hospital in Vancouver, British Columbia. Pandemic is his first novel.

Reviews

Full-time doctor and first-time novelist Kalla injects a frightening dose of reality into this tale of biological terrorism. Dr. Noah Haldane of the World Health Organization has repeatedly warned that the human race is due for a deadly new virus, similar to the 1919 Spanish flu that killed 20 million people in six months. So when a mysterious new flu strain is reported in China's Gansu province, Haldane isn't surprised he's called to investigate. He's shocked to learn that the new disease--dubbed Acute Respiratory Collapse Syndrome (ARCS) and considered far more deadly than SARS, killing one in every four people it infects--is intentionally being spread to London, British Columbia and Chicago. In the jet age, a killer bug can travel fast with devastating effects. The lively supporting cast includes the pretty director of counter-bioterrorism for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and a hilarious Scottish virologist. While a few plot twists seem a little too convenient and some technical passages slow the pace, Kalla's ripped-from-the-headlines plot and confident command of both language and medicine make this sobering book a pleasure. (Feb.)
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Edition details

• Publisher: Forge Books
• Publication date: 2005
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 076535084X
• ISBN 13: 9780765350848
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 416