"Well, You've Just Scared the Sh*t Out of Me." - A Review of Pandemic

Pandemic: Tracking Contagions, from Cholera to Ebola and Beyond by Sonia Shah

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I have been hospitalised thrice: twice for dengue, and once for typhoid. These events occurred about a year or two years apart, and all of them happened when I was in grade school. The first incident (dengue) happened when I was around eight or so, and the experience has left me with a deeply-ingrained, almost visceral, fear of hypodermic needles of any sort. This meant, of course, that the subsequent hospitalisation incidents were horrifying to me even if I was being treated at very good hospitals and received quality care every time.

And yet, despite the traumatising circumstances I have just mentioned, I am utterly fascinated by both diseases - especially dengue, which, unlike typhoid, cannot be vaccinated against and, being viral in nature, cannot be cured with antibiotics. Some might call it masochism, but I call it curiosity, more so because either disease could have killed me had I not received appropriate treatment and care before either disease could reach their more devastating stages.

( Read more... )