September 2006    

China Syndrome: The True Story of the 21st Century's First Great Epidemic Authors: Karl Taro Greenfeld Publisher: HarperCollins $25.95 Cloth (442 p.) ISBN: 0060587229 B&T         YBP In 2003 in Guangdong province in southern China, cases of atypical pneumonia began to appear. Highly contagious, it caused severe illness with a high mortality rate. Health care workers treating these patients began to fall ill, and it was determined that mechanical ventilation and respiratory treatments were actually spreading the disease. When pockets of the illness began to crop up, from Guangdong province, to Bangkok, Hong Kong and eventually Toronto, finally officials began to worry. Sound like Avian flu? This is rather the story of the SARS (severe acute respiratory disorder) outbreak of 2003-2004. The author, editor of Time Asia at the time of the outbreak, gives a vivid account answering four questions posed by Guan Yi, a virologist from University of Hong Kong: 1. what is it? 2. what does it do? 3. where does it come from? 4. and, how do you kill it? If you've ever wondered how it is that such viruses pass from animals to humans, this book will leave no doubt how this can occur. Greenfeld describes the wild animal markets (a big industry in China) where caged animals - snakes, birds, badgers, civet cats, wild dogs, and monkeys, among others - are sold. The cages are stacked, one on top of the other, and create a microbial soup as the animals shed viruses in their bodily fluids and feces. They are then sold to certain "Wild Flavor" restaurants where they are kept alive (swapping more viruses) until someone orders them for dinner. They are finally slaughtered on the premises and cooked to order. Greenfeld introduces us to Fang Lin, a "chop boy" in one of these restaurants, who falls ill with SARS. This highly readable account of the spread of a disease and the measures taken to combat it will be of interest to medical and general collections and to medical libraries for their popular reading sections. --Marjory Bryce Published by YBP Library Services 999 Maple St., Contoocook, NH 03229 USA v: 800.258.3774   f: 603.746.5628 w: www.ybp.com   e: academia@ybp.com All rights reserved.