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Swine Flu: Pandemic Strikes — The New H1NI Threat A book on the deadly swine flu that has in recent times evoked both interest and curiosity as well triggered panic ever since the WHO declared it a pandemic ought to have been on the cards. That, an Indian, Sunaiana Chaturvedi, has penned it, however, comes as a surprise.
The author Sunaina tells you all there is to be known of the flu that has kept the world on tenterhooks and claimed lives right from Mexico, where it was first detected to India where the first case cropped up only in mid-May. On Mexico she writes: "Some experts now assume that Mexico already had hundreds of thousands and possibly millions of cases before the outbreak was officially recognised and were therefore in the midst of a silent epidemic." She builds up from an introduction and jogs back in time to recount various other pandemics like the 1918 Spanish flu that were deadlier. She also makes us privy to facts like how the word influenza has come from the Italians. Interestingly, though, she elaborates how swine flu is a misnomer, her book is titled Swine Flu: Pandemic strikes— the New H1N1 Threat. Inside its pages, however, she refers to the term novel H1N1 threat. The threat is "dealt" with in earnestness, recording its timeline, management strategies, international guidelines and the Government of India action plan among other far-reaching details. While information such as the virus structure and pathology of the disease might be of greater interest to those who are scientifically inclined, simple queries like whether swimming pools are safe in the wake of the pandemic threat are answered, too. Among the trivia, there is reference to "swine flu parties" which by the way are "gatherings during which people have close contact with a person who has the novel H1N1 flu in order to become infected with the virus". Such parties, however, are not medically recommended. What is a must however are precautions that by now have been printed a number of times in the newspapers. Sunaina underlines why the oft-repeated safest and simplest method like "washing hands " is significant. Anti-viral drugs, resistance, and possible side effects are listed too. As expected of an Indian, she talks of the efficacy of Ayurveda in tackling the flu. In FAQs (frequently asked questions), she answers a whole lot of queries, including how long can the virus sustains on objects like doorknobs, table surfaces and books, etc. The answer is two to eight hours after being deposited on the surface. In What Lies Ahead, she even refers to the numerous fears of using H1N1 as a weapon for bio-terrorism after its entire genome was published in Science. The biggest advantage of writing a book on a topical subject is that it calls for no introduction in the sense that readers are all too familiar with its import. On the flip side, the endeavour is likely to become dated soon. With the possibility of the virus turning more lethal as well as another possible outbreak in winter, clearly this isn’t the last you have heard (or read) of the H1N1 virus. The book certainly can’t be called the last word on the H1N1 threat, but is definitely a concise one detailing much that would have missed even the most newspaper voracious reader.
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Sure
enough, the media has paid enough attention to this new infection and
made sure that peoples’ interest in this unstoppable virus is
sustained. Well, if your curiosity (anxiety, too) wasn’t satiated
enough, here is a book with a detailed forward by Maj Gen Raj Mehta
who stresses upon the Clauzewitzian formula of Ends, Ways and Means.