The Red Velvet Lawyer

The Event Missing from our High-School History Books Pox American: The Great Smallpox Epidemic of 1775-82 by Elizabeth A. Fern is a powerful analysis of a major public health event that played an important role in the future of the nation later known as the United States of America. It could have cost the Continental Army a win in the Revolutionary War with Britain.  It made conquering the interior of the country easier after smallpox killed 50 to 90 percent of the Native American population. By the time I read this book, I had already read books on  Ebola  in 20th century US, cholera  in 19th century England, the  Black Plague  in 14th century France, malaria  across the centuries and across the world, and the  Spanish flu  in 20th century US.  But this book carried more emotional weight.  Without ever saying as much, its pages spoke of great sadness and fear.  The viral illness was endemic to the...

Timeless Lessons About Human Behavior When I first saw the pandemic spread West from Wuhan as I sat in my Qatar office, the New York Times published a list of seven books on pandemics .  Being an academic who likes to use "teachable moments" to increase my own knowledge and understanding, I ordered all of them.  They arrived in Doha just as officials ordered educators to start distance learning on March 10.  Safe at home and free of many campus-related responsibilities, I now had more time to read, and so I did. I started with the book on Ebola in 20th century US, then cholera in 19th century England, then the Black Plague in 14th century France, then malaria across the centuries and across the world, then the Spanish flu in 20th century US, and most recently smallpox in the US during the Revolutionary War period.  I am now reading a book that asks how we plan to handle future pandemics .  I still need to read the book on HIV/AIDS , a ...

Eighty-Seven Years of Research  Unlocked Some of the Mysteries of the Virus  that Killed 50 Million People Worldwide I finished the book on the Spanish flu: "Flu: The Story of the Great Influenza Pandemic of 1918 and the Search for the Virus that Caused it" by Gina Kolata.  Over the last two months, I have read books on Ebola, Cholera, the Black Plague, and malaria.  My reading list still includes books on HIV, smallpox, and the risk of coming pandemics.  Scientists have learned that the virus causing the Spanish flu was genetically similar to viruses found in birds.  It mutated in pigs, then infected humans. The Spanish flu virus was probably circulating (in a less virulent form) in the population for several years before the deadly 1918 outbreak that killed 50 million worldwide. The weird mortality curve , with younger people dying at higher rates, may reflect that older people had antibodies from the 1890 flu (developed wh...

We Won't Know for Several More Weeks,  and the Uncertainty is Too Much for Some Folks! Can I still say that Qatar is flattening the curve? At the end of March, I began tracking the Qatari government's response to the coronavirus pandemic.  That post provides context, background, and daily updates through the end of April.  In light of the ongoing pandemic and recent changes in the data coming out of Qatar, I decided to start a new post for May 2020. As noted, the situation in Qatar has changed significantly in the last two weeks.  Qatar reported its first case of COVID-19 on Feb. 29 in a young Qatari returning from Iran.  Until April 2, new cases per day had not exceeded 115.  On April 3,  total  cases finally exceeded 1,000.   On April 4, the number of new cases doubled, hovering around 250 per day for several days. Qatari officials said that new testing technology explained the jump. Then, on April 17, off...