September 7, 2009
With the current focus on the H1N1, or swine flu, people may have forgotten about the avian flu scare of a few years ago. The deadly avian, or H5N1, flu centered in Asia and garnered similar headlines in 2004, announcing fears of a pandemic. In his first book, Sipress, a writer for the Washington Post
, comes bearing the unhappy news that the avian flu threat grows more dire every day (outbreaks reported as recently as this year). Sipress rides shotgun with WHO researchers as they cross Southeast Asia tracking transmission of the disease and trying to persuade recalcitrant governments to report cases of avian flu and cull flocks of thousands of chickens. Yet possibly infected birds continue to be smuggled across borders, and experts say we are not appropriately prepared to combat a pandemic. Sipress writes at a breathless pace at times, and after a while his case histories blend. Remarkably, he makes no mention of the current H1N1 outbreak. But readers interested in public health or who like to stay abreast of all possible looming threats will want to read this.
Starred review from September 1, 2009
A grim, harrowing account of what is happening—and not happening—in Southeast Asia as countries confront bird flu.
Former Washington Post business editor and foreign correspondent Sipress spent years following human outbreaks of bird flu in mainland China, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Cambodia and Indonesia as the disease relentlessly moved west. The culprit was the virulent H5N1 influenza virus, which has ravaged geese, ducks, other wild fowl, the roosters groomed for cockfighting and, most importantly, domestic chickens, transmitting disease to human bird handlers or consumers. Like all flu viruses, H5N1 is quick to mutate or mix genes with other flu viruses, meaning that it can develop resistance to drugs or vaccines. In some places it may have already become asymptomatic in birds, which makes checking the source of a human outbreak, already problematic, even more formidable. The critical question is when a mutation will ease human-to-human transmission. That will be the takeoff point for a pandemic that will dwarf the mortality of the 1918 flu epidemic. The World Health Organization and other global health leaders, as well as the many epidemiologists and virologists tracking the virus, are convinced that it is not question of if but when. The reasons vary: the globalization of commerce and travel means that all parts of the world are connected within hours; a growing middle class in developing countries is eating more meat, and poultry conglomerates have risen to meet the need, in some cases conspiring with governments to suppress news of poultry disease and required bird cullings; developing countries are still too poor to cope with epidemic disease or vaccinations. Some have pledged not to cooperate in disease surveillance, blaming the West for taking their virus samples to make drugs or vaccines that are too expensive for them. There is still much to be learned about the virus, and Sipress's sketches of the heroic men and women at the frontlines enrich the narrative, even as he expertly details the obstacles posed when a disease becomes a matter of politics, commerce and culture clash.
Exemplary—and highly frightening—investigative reporting.
(COPYRIGHT (2009) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)
December 10, 2009
Arriving at a time when H1N1 influenza is a staple daily news item, Sipress (deputy financial editor, Washington Post) does not intend to calm fears here. As a correspondent in Southeast Asia, he was able to talk with many of the people involved in the numerous close calls involving H5N1 avian flu. While influenza viruses, he says, are usually a step ahead of us, this one has not yet mutated into a version that easily moves from animals to humans and then from human to human. Sipress describes several outbreaks, including SARS-devastating to the people infected but so far limited in scale-and backs his suggestion that a pandemic is nearly inevitable with descriptions of earlier pandemics and of the economic and social conditions restraining early detection. His heroes are the professionals struggling against those conditions and against people, from government officials to chicken farmers and duck herders, resisting their efforts. Verdict Sipress offers a fascinating and thought-provoking narrative based on solid reporting and firsthand experience. This should appeal to general readers and to those involved in making public health policy.-Dick Maxwell, Porter Adventist Hosp., Denver
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