Pandemic: How Climate, the Environment, and Superbugs Increase the Risk
5/5
()
About this ebook
Throughout history, several deadly pandemics brought humanity to its knees, killing millions, and recent outbreaks of Ebola and Zika took coordinated international efforts to prevent them from spreading. Learn about factors that contribute to the spread of disease by examining past pandemics and epidemics, including the Bubonic Plague, smallpox Ebola, HIV/AIDS, and Zika. Examine case studies of potential pandemic diseases, like SARS and cholera, and find out how pathogens and antibiotics work. See how human activities such as global air travel and the disruption of animal habitats contribute to the risk of a new pandemic. And discover how scientists are striving to contain and control the spread of disease, both locally and globally.
Connie Goldsmith
Connie Goldsmith is a registered nurse with a bachelor of science degree in nursing and a master of public administration degree in health care. She has written numerous books for YA readers and nearly two hundred magazine articles. Her recent books include Kiyo Sato: From a WWII Japanese Internment Camp to a Life of Service (2020), a Junior Library Guild selection; Running on Empty: Sleeplessness in American Teens (2021); Understanding Coronaviruses: SARS, MERS, and the COVID-19 Pandemic (2021); and Bombs Over Bikini: The World's First Nuclear Disaster (2014), a Junior Library Guild selection, a Children's Book Committee at Bank Street College Best Children's Book of the Year, an Association of Children's Librarians of Northern California Distinguished Book, and an SCBWI Crystal Kite Winner. She lives in Sacramento, California. Visit her website at http://www.conniegoldsmith.com/.
Read more from Connie Goldsmith
Dietary Supplements: Harmless, Helpful, or Hurtful? Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Understanding Suicide: A National Epidemic Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAddiction and Overdose: Confronting an American Crisis Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsKiyo Sato: From a WWII Japanese Internment Camp to a Life of Service Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSmashing Stigma: Dismantling Stereotypes, Prejudice, and Discrimination Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsUnderstanding Coronaviruses: SARS, MERS, and the COVID-19 Pandemic Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAnimals Go to War: From Dogs to Dolphins Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRunning on Empty: Sleeplessness in American Teens Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDogs at War: Military Canine Heroes Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWomen in the Military: From Drill Sergeants to Fighter Pilots Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Related to Pandemic
Related ebooks
The Plague Cycle: The Unending War Between Humanity and Infectious Disease Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5An Epidemic of Absence: A New Way of Understanding Allergies and Autoimmune Diseases Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Epidemics and Pandemics: Real Tales of Deadly Diseases Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Atlas of Disease: Mapping Deadly Epidemics and Contagion from the Plague to the Coronavirus Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Flu: The Story of the Great Influenza Pandemic of 1918 and the Search for the Virus That Caused It Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Coming Plague: Newly Emerging Diseases in a World Out of Balance Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Pandemic 1918: Eyewitness Accounts from the Greatest Medical Holocaust in Modern History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Great Warming: Climate Change and the Rise and Fall of Civilizations Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Science Goes Viral: Captivating Accounts of Science in Everyday Life Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe End of Epidemics: The Looming Threat to Humanity and How to Stop It Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Outbreak!: 50 Tales of Epidemics that Terrorized the World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Superbugs: An Arms Race against Bacteria Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5China Syndrome: The True Story of the 21st Century's First Great Epidemic Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Madness and Memory: The Discovery of Prions—A New Biological Principle of Disease Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Inside the Outbreaks: The Elite Medical Detectives of the Epidemic Intelligence Service Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5One in a Billion: The Story of Nic Volker and the Dawn of Genomic Medicine Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5An Elegant Defense: The Extraordinary New Science of the Immune System: A Tale in Four Lives Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Influenza: The Hundred-Year Hunt to Cure the 1918 Spanish Flu Pandemic Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Infections and Inequalities: The Modern Plagues Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Antidote: Inside the World of New Pharma Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Good Germs, Bad Germs: Health and Survival in a Bacterial World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Inferno: A Doctor's Ebola Story Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bottle of Lies: The Inside Story of the Generic Drug Boom Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Beating Back the Devil: On the Front Lines with the Disease Detectives of Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Superbugs: the race to stop an epidemic Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
YA Health & Daily Living For You
Me and Earl and the Dying Girl (Movie Tie-in Edition) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sunny's California Diaries: Diary One, Diary Two, and Diary Three Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Eat To Live Diet: The Ultimate Step by Step Cheat Sheet on How To Lose Weight & Sustain It Now Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Tweak: Growing Up on Methamphetamines Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Me and Earl and the Dying Girl: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5An American Plague: The True and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Cube Method Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Elena Vanishing: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The V-Word: True Stories about First-Time Sex Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Our Year of Maybe Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Eat To Live Diet Reloaded : 70 Top Eat To Live Recipes You Will Love ! Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWhat They Don't Teach Teens: Life Safety Skills for Teens and the Adults Who Care for Them Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Year I Didn't Eat Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Self-Love Workbook for Teens: A Transformative Guide to Boost Self-Esteem, Build a Healthy Mindset, and Embrace Your True Self Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSpeak Love: Making Your Words Matter Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bipolar Disorder :Am I Bipolar ? How Bipolar Quiz & Tests Reveal The Answers Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fashion 101: A Crash Course in Clothing Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sex Plus: Learning, Loving, and Enjoying Your Body Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Brave Enough Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Carb Cycling for Weight Loss: The Ultimate Diet Guide For Those Who Want To Lose Weight Fast Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSummary of The Silva Mind Control Method: by Jose Silva and Philip Miele - A Comprehensive Summary Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Confident Me: A BLACK GIRL'S GUIDE TO FINDING HER INNER CONFIDENCE Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSummary of How to Stop Worrying and Start Living: by Dale Carnegie - A Comprehensive Summary Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Terrible Typhoid Mary: A True Story of the Deadliest Cook in America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Luminary: A Magical Guide to Self-Care Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/541 Self-Discipline Habits: For Slackers, Avoiders, & Couch Potatoes Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Six Months to Live: The Dawn Rochelle Series, Book One Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Pandemic
2 ratings1 review
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I just really loved this book. I enjoyed a lot .i really recommend everyone to read this book. I am quite sure that you will definitely like it. so guys goooo for it...i five 5 star for it loveeee
Book preview
Pandemic - Connie Goldsmith
Text copyright © 2019 by Connie Goldsmith
All rights reserved. International copyright secured. No part of this book 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 written permission of Lerner Publishing Group, Inc., except for the inclusion of brief quotations in an acknowledged review.
Twenty-First Century Books
A division of Lerner Publishing Group, Inc.
241 First Avenue North
Minneapolis, MN 55401 USA
For reading levels and more information, look up this title at www.lernerbooks.com.
Main body text set in Adobe Garamond Pro 11/15.
Typeface provided by Adobe Systems.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Goldsmith, Connie, 1945– author.
Title: Pandemic : how climate, the environment, and superbugs increase the risk / by Connie Goldsmith.
Description: Minneapolis, MN : Twenty-First Century Books, a division of Lerner Publishing Group, Inc., [2018] | Audience: Ages 13–18. | Audience: Grades 9 to 12. | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2017043693 (print) | LCCN 2017046752 (ebook) | ISBN 9781541524767 (eb pdf) | ISBN 9781512452150 (lb : alk. paper)
Subjects: LCSH: Epidemics—Juvenile literature. | Communicable diseases—Climatic factors—Juvenile literature. | Nature—Effect of human beings on—Juvenile literature.
Classification: LCC RA653.5 (ebook) | LCC RA653.5 .G65 2018 (print) | DDC 614.4—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017043693
Manufactured in the United States of America
1-42909-26514-1/8/2018
9781541538221 ePub
9781541538238 ePub
9781541538245 mobi
Contents
Chapter 1
Bugs in the News
Chapter 2
Bugs on a Plane
Chapter 3
Climate Change, Insects, and Animals
Chapter 4
Disruption of Animal Habitats
Chapter 5
Crowding in Peace and War
Chapter 6
Superbugs on the March
Chapter 7
Pandemic Influenza
Chapter 8
Preventing a Pandemic
Source Notes
Glossary
Selected Bibliography
Further Information
Index
Chapter 1
Bugs in the News
Over the last decades there have been about thirty newly emerging diseases that had the potential to be pandemics. It’s not a matter of if there will be a global pandemic, it’s just a matter of when and which virus and how bad.
—Dr. Larry Brilliant, epidemiologist, 2017
What do you think are the most dangerous animals in the world? Great white sharks? Poisonous snakes? People? Not even close. Believe it or not, mosquitoes are the most dangerous animals in the world. They are directly responsible for an estimated 725,000 human deaths each year. That is far more than the total number of deaths each year caused by people, snakes, sharks, and many other animals and insects combined. Why are mosquitoes so deadly? These flying disease factories carry more than a dozen lethal viruses and the malaria parasite. And these diseases a re among the most dangerous in the world.
A recent blood meal is visible in this mosquito’s transparent gut. As it feeds, the mosquito can spread the malaria parasite and the viruses that cause Zika, dengue, and chikungunya.
Pandemics (disease outbreaks that affect many people in many parts of the world) can bring the human race to its knees. History is filled with stories of such devastation. For example, in the fourteenth century, the Black Death wiped out at least 17 percent of the world’s population. In modern times, epidemics (diseases that affect a large number of people in several places) have begun invading news reports around the globe.
In 1999 West Nile virus, spread by mosquitoes, reached the United States, and it has since spread to nearly every state. In 2003 severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) infected thousands of people and killed hundreds around the world. More recently, the Ebola and Zika viruses have spread death and tragedy on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. Foodborne illnesses sicken an estimated forty-eight million Americans each year, killing thousands. And each year, like clockwork, one or more new strains of the flu begin to make the rounds.
No More Epidemics is an international campaign dedicated to preparing the world for epidemics and pandemics. Based on the world’s population and infection rates of past pandemics, experts affiliated with the campaign predict that the world’s next pandemic could kill between 180 and 360 million people during its first year alone. In 2017 many disease experts predicted that a pandemic is likely to occur within the next two or three decades. Some say it could be as soon as ten to fifteen years.
Several of the bacteria and viruses that have made headlines in the twenty-first century could cause the planet’s next pandemic. New diseases are becoming more common, and old ones are reappearing more often. And the spread of all of these diseases has to do with human activity.
Know Your ’Demics
Epidemiologists—scientists who study diseases—rate the severity of a particular disease occurring at a given time in one of four ways:
Outbreaks strike a limited number of people in a limited area and last a short time. Monkeypox, a distant relative of smallpox, appeared for the first time in the United States in 2003. During the two-month outbreak, more than seventy people in six midwestern states developed monkeypox.
Endemics are diseases that are always present in a region. For example, malaria is endemic in several countries in Africa, such as Democratic Republic of the Congo, Nigeria, and Uganda.
Epidemics hit a large number of people in several areas at the same time. In 2014–2015, scientists classified Ebola as an epidemic because it infected large numbers of people in three countries in West Africa.
Pandemics affect many people in many parts of the world at the same time. For example, the Spanish flu of 1918–1919, which sickened millions of people around the world, was a true pandemic.
A Brief History of Pandemics
Pandemics are not new. Ancient written records show that pandemics have occurred over many centuries. Historians believe that smallpox and bubonic plague likely triggered the earliest-recorded pandemics. Smallpox alone has caused an estimated one billion deaths since it first appeared around 10,000 BCE, although most cases occurred many centuries before medical science could positively identify it. Pandemics have changed the course of history, especially the three major historical pandemics: the Black Death, Spanish influenza, and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), which causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS).
In the middle of the fourteenth century, the world population was about 450 million people. The bubonic plague, sometimes called the Black Death, killed between 17 and 44 percent of the world population. In just four years—from 1347 to 1351—plague wiped out between one-third and one-half of all Europeans. Yersinia pestis (Y. pestis) is the bacteria responsible for plague. The bacteria live in fleas, which live on rats and other rodents. Italian traders returning from Asia brought the disease back with them, carried by flea-infected rats on their ships. Once a ship docked, the rats could move off the ship and enter the port. From there the rats, carrying the plague-infected fleas, spread into the city or town. The fleas infected local rats that lived close to people. The infected fleas moved between rats and people, easily infecting both.
The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease (NIAID) produced this digitally colored electron microscope image of Yersinia pestis (Y. pestis). The yellow Y. pestis bacteria are on parts of the digestive system of a flea (in purple).
What’s in a Name?
Throughout history, scientists have come up with a way to classify and name every living thing using a system that is consistent within the scientific community around the world. Eight categories organize every plant, animal, and microorganism. These categories are domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, and species. Each category gets more and more specific. For example, all bacteria fall under the Bacteria domain, but a species name refers only to one kind of living thing. Latin-based terms name organisms within each of these categories.
In the eighteenth century, Swedish scientist Carolus Linnaeus created a scientific naming system called binomial nomenclature. Using the genus and species names for each organism, scientists can simply and clearly name every living thing. For example, the bacterium Yersinia pestis belongs to the genus Yersinia and the species Yersinia pestis. In scientific writing, the genus name is capitalized and can be abbreviated to use only the first letter, as in Y. pestis.
Plague can infect the lungs, the blood, or, most commonly, the lymph nodes. A key part of the body’s immune system, these small glands are scattered throughout the body to filter out bacteria. When Y. pestis infects the lymph nodes, they swell into visible black lumps called buboes. These black buboes gave bubonic plague its name.
In the twenty-first century, plague still passes from fleas to rodents to people. Typically, fewer than ten Americans develop plague each year. Most are in New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, and California, where wild rodents may carry plague-infected fleas. Nearly all infected people recover from the plague with antibiotic treatment.
In the twentieth century, another pandemic called Spanish flu ravaged Europe. This flu pandemic of 1918–1919 sickened up to one-third of the world’s population and killed between fifty and one hundred million people. World War I (1914–1918) was nearly over, and many troops had been moving around the globe in crowded trains and ships. The flu—easily transmitted through droplets in the air when people sneeze, cough, or talk—traveled with them. This flu may have been the single worst pandemic of all time.
During the war, the governments of France, Britain, and the United States censored newspaper reports about