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Deadly Outbreaks
- How Medical Detectives Save Lives Threatened by Killer Pandemics, Exotic Viruses, and Drug-Resistant Parasites
- Narrated by: Julie McKay
- Length: 9 hrs and 28 mins
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Editor reviews
Alexandra Levitt is an expert in emergent diseases and public health issues. In this audiobook, she relays information and stories on the complex and fascinating subject of infectious microbes. Julie McKay narrates with a deliberate, clear voice, which will help listeners grasp the intricacies of the subject. The chapters are organized by microbial strains, and each chapter gives background on the known facts of the particular microbe, as well public policy and history related to it. While the subject of the audio is scientific, Levitt pries into all related areas: homicide, deadly outbreaks, and the successes and failures of those people working to stop these invisible, deadly killers. Listeners will be shocked and terrified by what they will learn - but ultimately grateful to be more informed.
Summary
Take a visit to the frontline as scientists fight to solve medical mysteries.
Despite advances in health care, infectious microbes continue to be a formidable adversary to scientists and doctors. Vaccines and antibiotics, the mainstays of modern medicine, have not been able to conquer infectious microbes because of their amazing ability to adapt, evolve, and spread to new places. Terrorism aside, one of the greatest dangers from infectious disease we face today is from a massive outbreak of drug-resistant microbes.
Deadly Outbreaks recounts the scientific adventures of a special group of intrepid individuals who investigate these outbreaks around the world and figure out how to stop them. Part homicide detective, part physician, these medical investigators must view the problem from every angle, exhausting every possible source of contamination. Any data gathered in the field must be stripped of human sorrows and carefully analyzed into hard statistics.
Author Dr. Alexandra Levitt is an expert on emerging diseases and other public health threats. Here she shares insider accounts she's collected that go behind the alarming headlines we've seen in the media: mysterious food poisonings, unexplained deaths at a children's hospital, a strange neurologic disease afflicting slaughterhouse workers, flocks of birds dropping dead out of the sky, and drug-resistant malaria running rampant in a refugee camp. Meet the resourceful investigators - doctors, veterinarians, and research scientists - and discover the truth behind these cases and more.
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What listeners say about Deadly Outbreaks
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- AstraeaNova
- 14-06-18
Facinating Bugs
This is a fantastic book, it tells you about all those times people really needed TPTB to know what's wrong and how to put it right to save the rest of us from getting any nasty, fatal, diseases.
I've been fascinated by medical science since I was a child and have read books similar to this one before and I got to say this was well worth the listen. It goes into all the details of how diseases emerge, how they are spread, and how they are either eventually cured of not, which can be a very exciting tale.
I would whole heartedly recommend this book.
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7 people found this helpful
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- JM
- 03-02-22
Disappointed
Deadly in that people died. Not so sure the outbreaks described is worse than many other outbreaks or that all 'stories' can be called outbreaks. For example, the second 'outbreak' reads more like a description of US immigration policy of the time!
I feel the narrator is not the right person for this type of book. She managed to make what could have been an interesting book quite mediocre.
Not all her fault though. I feel the author has dragged the description of the investigative process out unnecessarily. It made a boring read.
I struggled through to the end by skipping through the remaining chapters quite ruthlessly.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Amazon Customer
- 03-02-24
Real detective stories
Perfectly told. Unlike most of the literature, these stories do not start with the solution. They start with the first cases, initiating investigation, include wild goose chases, and finally some lessons learned. The book I alway wanted to read.
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- Z
- 24-09-23
Informative and interesting.
A fascinating insight into a little thought of role which has devastatingly become a point of national fascination.
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- tracey cardew
- 15-08-23
Extremely interesting and thought provoking
Fantastic book but seriously let down by the narrator, who made basic errors of mispronunciation and misreading.
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- Dr Suresh Naidu
- 25-07-23
how to make good tale boring?
Struggled to finish it. Interesting needles in haystack of boredom! Good to put you to sleep though
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- Anonymous User
- 30-05-23
Hard to listen to
Much of the information is not relevant to the listener, especially the endless amount of acronyms. The story is interresting, but for me not living in USA, the acronyms makes it hard to listen to, as i don’t use these in my language and therefore just get an endless amount og letters I have no relation to. Why does it have to say NYC and not New York City? It takes exactly the same amount of time…
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- Amazon Customer
- 10-02-23
Interesting stories, dull delivery
The medical mysteries were interesting but the author gave unnecessary complicated detail only relevant to fellow researchers ( and I am a biologist by training). Narration was clear but jarring and stilted. The whole thing could have been summarised in half the time and far more engagingly.
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- Amazon Customer
- 01-02-23
appalling pronunciation
can't say to strongly how appealing her pronunciation is she should have been given a bit of help.
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- OldnCreaky
- 20-12-22
Fascinating
The story behind outbreaks of disease that we never get to hear. How spotting an outbreak is the first challenge, then convincing others is the second. Whatever it is you don't want to be the first person to show up with it, or even the 10th.
Bravo to these 'behind the scenes' people who are trying to keep pace with infectious illnesses across the world.
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