The Lassa Ward. One Man's Fight Against One of the World's Deadliest Diseases

Donaldson, Dr. Ross I.

ISBN 10: 0312377002 / ISBN 13: 9780312377007

Published by St. Martin's Press, New York, 2009

About this Item

Stated first edition, with full number line, SIGNED BY THE AUTHOR ON HALF TITLE PAGE 'Warmest Regards Ross'. Minor edge wear and some creasing to top of jacket and spine, not price clipped ($24.95), no other inscriptions, internally clean tight and square, overall in vg++ condition. 270pp. The story of a medical student, alone in a hospital ward except for very sick patients, some about to die with blood flooding from every body orifice. What do you do? Well if your name is Ross Donaldson, you pray and do the best you can. He was thousands of miles away from his home and the comfort and high technology of hospitals of California where some patients have up to 20 doctors each to take care of every need. In the steamy heat and the poverty of what was once known as "The White Man's Grave" - the one time slave nation of Sierra Leone - death from Lassa Fever is endemic, babies, children, mothers, fathers but not many grandparents for they do not live long enough. There is seldom enough medicine to treat the victims in the somewhat ramshackle hospital of Kemona, four hours drive from the capital, Freetown. Often medical staff buy vital drugs from market traders. Donaldson was in Kemona for three months and was struck down when he returned to Los Angeles, not by Lassa but, as it turned out myocarditis, a condition that causes the immune system to attack the heart. It took him six months to recover. Now he is a trauma professor of medicine. A remarkable memoir.

Seller Inventory # 001688

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Lassa Ward. One Man's Fight Against One of the World's Deadliest Diseases
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press, New York
• Publication Date: 2009
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0312377002
• ISBN 13: 9780312377007
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Condition: Near Fine
• Dust Jacket Condition: Near Fine
• Signed: Signed by Author(s)

About this title

Synopsis

Ross Donaldson is one of just a few who have ventured into dark territory of a country ravaged by war to study one of the world’s most deadly diseases. As an untried medical student studying the intersection of global health and communicable disease, Donaldson soon found himself in dangerous Sierra Leone, on the border of war-struck Liberia, where he struggled to control the spread of Lassa Fever. The words, “you know Lassa can kill you, don’t you?” haunted him each day. With the country in complete upheaval and working conditions suffering, he is forced to make life-and-death decisions alone as a never-ending onslaught of contagious patients flood the hospital. Soon however, he is not only fighting for others but himself when he becomes afflicted with a life threatening disease. The Lassa Ward is more than just an adventure story about the making of a physician; it is a portrait of the Sierra Leone people and the human struggle of those risking their daily comforts and lives to aid them.

About the Author

DR.ROSS I.DONALDSON,M.D., M.P.H., is a UCLA medical professor and works in one of L.A.’s main trauma centers. He is author of several medical textbooks, has been a humanitarian in some of the world’s most dangerous places, and is host of Lifetime’s Street Doctors. He lives in Venice Beach, California.