Salvador Macip - Modern Epidemics

1 Cover

2 Title Page MODERN EPIDEMICS From the Spanish Flu to COVID-19 Salvador Macip Translated from Catalan by Julie Wark polity

3 Copyright © Salvador Macip Maresma, 2020 Revised, updated and expanded text by Salvador Macip from his work Les grans epidèmies modernes originally published in Catalan by La Campana. Translation rights arranged by Asterisc Agents. All rights reserved. This English edition © 2021 by Polity Press This book has been supported by the Institut Ramon Llull Polity Press 65 Bridge Street Cambridge CB2 1UR, UK Polity Press 101 Station Landing Suite 300 Medford, MA 02155, USA All rights reserved. Except for the quotation of short passages for the purpose of criticism and review, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher. ISBN-13: 978-1-5095-4658-9 A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. The publisher has used its best endeavours to ensure that the URLs for external websites referred to in this book are correct and active at the time of going to press. However, the publisher has no responsibility for the websites and can make no guarantee that a site will remain live or that the content is or will remain appropriate. Every effort has been made to trace all copyright holders, but if any have been overlooked the publisher will be pleased to include any necessary credits in any subsequent reprint or edition. For further information on Polity, visit our website: politybooks.com

4 Dedication Dedication For my mother: Thank you for all these years of unconditional support

5 Epigraph The smallest unit of life – a single bacterial cell – is a monument of pattern and process unrivalled in the universe as we know it. Lynn Margulis and Dorion Sagan, Microcosmos: Four Billion Years of Microbial Evolution (University of California Press, 1986) But there is something terrifying about the fact that nothing can stop the implacable evolution of these viruses as they test, through mindless mutation, ever more strategies to facilitate their survival, a survival that just may represent disease and death for us humans. C. J. Peters and Mark Olshaker, Virus Hunter: Thirty Years of Battling Hot Viruses around the World (Anchor Books, 1997)

6 Acknowledgements Acknowledgements My thanks to colleagues who guided my first steps in the fascinating world of studying microorganisms: Dr Luca Gusella, Dr Arantxa Horga, Dr Adolfo García-Sastre and Dr Luis Martínez-Sobrido. And more thanks for the deliberations and conversations that have ended up appearing in this book. A thousand thanks to Dr Jordi Gómez i Prat, Dr Marta Giralt, Dr Joan Fontdevila and Dr Ana Fernández Sesma for their help, their selfless supervision, and for letting me interview them. Another thousand to C. J. Peters, L. Margulis, D. Sagan, D. H. Crawford, D. Grady, G. Kolata and M. Siegel for their books on the subject, which have been my references. My gratitude to Gonzalo Pontón for his contribution in giving shape to this project, to Pau Centellas and Carlota Torrents for their part in bringing into being what finally ended up as a book, to Emili Rosales and Ramón Perelló for enabling the project grow, to Isabel Martí and Josep Maria Espinàs for their guidance in polishing it, and to John Thompson and Elise Heslinga for helping me turn it into a much better book. As always, my thanks to Yolanda, Pol, Antoni-Jordi, Josefina and Ana for being at my side, for helping me in difficult moments, and for being unsparing with their criticism.

7 IntroductionAn ever-present danger Let’s do our homework A tool for understanding the present and preparing for the future

8 Part I Sharing the World with Microorganisms 1 Travel Companions They were here first Peaceful passengers The dark side A bit of terminology Bacteria Viruses: the smallest life form? Fungi: microscopic mushrooms 2 The Story of a Never-Ending Struggle The invisible hand behind things Rats, fleas, and bacteria The ‘Spanish’ flu The resuscitated virus Smallpox, a disease of the past Poliomyelitis: next on the list? Cost in lives, cost in money 3 Our Arsenal Simple but vital The immune system The next step forward: vaccines Cancer vaccines The papilloma vaccine, a controversial solution The danger of listening to the wrong people Future challenges Antibiotics: the offensive begins Powerful poisons or a sophisticated messaging system? Miracles with an expiry date The microbes of the future Resting on our laurels The antibiotics of the future Antivirals Who pays the bills? Control and prevention 4 The Danger of Knowing Too Much The paradox: the more we research, the greater the danger Dangerous information Anthrax Bioterrorists in the USA The return of smallpox? 5 Forgotten Diseases and New Diseases Meningitis Cholera West Nile virus Ebola Marburg: the other serious haemorrhagic fever The ‘forgotten’ diseases Chagas disease Dengue Hand, foot and mouth disease 6 Coronaviruses and Future PandemicsCoronaviruses: the new plague? SARS: the coronaviruses enter the scene MERS, or camel sickness COVID-19 changes everything How to stop the virus The vaccine race The future of the pandemic What lies ahead for SARS-CoV-2 Lessons from COVID-19: how to manage a crisis And the next pandemic? Where is the ‘supervirus’? How can we prevent the spread?

9 Part II Major Modern Epidemics 7 Influenza The virus’s thousand faces The killer cold A winter malady A useful treatment One vaccine or many vaccines? The future of humanity depends on an egg The danger of bird flu The 2009 influenza pandemic Drugs and the race against time Epidemic or pandemic? A change of hemispheres Prepare for the worst The consequences of the pandemic 8 AIDS Another multifaceted virus The African sickness A scientists’ squabble The Nobel of discord The silent infection Necessary swift diagnosis A miraculous treatment … that doesn’t cure Side effects The virus becomes more dangerous Treatments for the future And the famous vaccine? Defence is the best attack Where does the money come from? Denialists: as dangerous as the virus 9 Tuberculosis Koch’s bacillus: an armoured microbe A problem that comes back The threat of resistant tuberculosis New treatments, old treatments Another disease with no vaccine The tuberculosis that comes from cows 10 Malaria All because of a mosquito Goodwill is not enough The treatment and how to get it to people who need it Has the time of resistances come? The controversial SPf66 vaccine The army is also researching Against the insects: mosquito nets and genetic engineering Global action A tropical disease only?

10 Epilogue

11 Glossary

12 Index

13 End User License Agreement

1 Cover

2 Table of Contents

3 Title Page

4 Copyright

5 Dedication

6 Epigraph

7 Acknowledgements

8 Introduction

9 Begin Reading

10 Epilogue

11 Glossary

12 Index

13 End User License Agreement

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