"Marc Siegel is an articulate voice of reason in a world beset by hype and hysteria. We would be well advised to listen closely to what he has to say."
?Jerome Groopman, M.D., staff writer, the New Yorker
"Siegel cuts through the hype about the 'deadly' this and the 'lethal' that, and applies reason in seeking the answers."
?John M. Barry, author of The Great Influenza: The Epic Story of the Deadliest Plague in History
"Timely and needed. At such times, we need soothsayers and explicators to redirect the ready-fire-aim mindset. Siegel's book fulfills this role well."
?The Journal of the American Medical Association
As bird flu sweeps through Asia, the rest of the world has begun to worry that it might spread west and start infecting humans. As many experts have pointed out, an influenza pandemic is only a matter of time and that time could be now. Or is it? In Bird Flu, Dr. Marc Siegel cuts through the hype, the facts, the fears, and the realities to explain what has the experts so worried and why there's still plenty of reason to be calm. Among the questions he answers are:
In his sensible and entertaining style, Siegel looks at the advances we've made in treatments, the research still to be done, and the challenges ahead for Asia to lay out a realistic plan for ending this global threat. While a bird flu outbreak in the United States may or may not happen this year, there's still a great deal of work to be done in readying America for outbreaks of any kind. Introduction. PART I: FACTS AND FICTIONS. 1. Bird Flu Basics. 2. The History of Bird Flu. 3. Spanish Flu versus Swine Flu. 4. A Bird?s-Eye View. 5. Tamiflu and the Bird Flu Vaccine. PART II: THE EVOLUTION OF BIRD FLU CONCERNS. 6. Our Culture of Fear. 7. SARS. 8. The Other Flu. 9. Do We Know a Pandemic When We See One? AIDS versus Bird Flu. 10. Perspectives. Bibliography.