Lassa-Fever Books

I first read this as a grade-schooler, as the condensed version in Reader's Digest, and later found the full edition at a book fair. It is one of the most fascinating, and frightening, books I have ever read.

Paul Ehrlich's "The Population Bomb" postulated a worldwide pandemic of this disease which killed off 1/4 of the earth's population a la "The Stand", but it would not happen this way; the virus mutates and weakens too readily.

Some other updates on key players in this book:

Rose and Lily "Penny" Pinneo are retired and live together in Sebring, Florida.
Dr. John Hamer and his wife, Elsie, live in Fort Wayne, Indiana and recently celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary.
Dr. Wilbur Downs died a few years ago.
The author, John Fuller, died in 1991.
I was unable to find Dr. Sonja Buckley online. (Edit, 3/2/06: Dr. Buckley died in 2005.)
Jos, Nigeria is in the throes of civil war. Nigeria has not been affected by AIDS as profoundly as other African countries, but it is a significant problem.

The book is a relatively quick and easy read. Although it is out of print, it is not hard to find.

A doctor uses her mouth to draw a virus-containing solution into a pipette, hospital workers bare-handedly contact infected patients, a deathly ill victim travels to a hospital via a routine commercial aircraft flight, researcher-sleuths attempt to learn about a virus only minimally protected against it - seem likely? All of this and more actually happened during an outbreak of a virulent type of fever in a missionary hospital in Nairobi in 1969. Many prayers were said, many doctors took part, many people died and much was learned about what to and what not to do when dealing with contagious diseases in the process of tracking down the vector, determining the methods of transmission, and attempting to find a treatment. Published in 1974, Fever! provides a look into how outbreaks of contagious diseases were handled at that time and is a fast-paced, engrossing, frill-less story. The race against the clock to find a cure section was especially compelling. Interesting companion reads: The Andromeda Strain by Michael Crichton, Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks, The Great Influenza by John M. Barry, In a Far Country by John Taliaferro, and Graceland by Chris Abani.

This book is Still (2005) a great book. Read it if you want to learn about some really true / frightening ways virus can become lethal to people.

This is one of the most exciting, dramatic, inspiring, and disturbing books I've ever read. My husband found me a used copy, which I treasure. Much is written about how viruses mutate and are coming to get us; this book is quite simply the great morality play on the subject. That it's out of print?--somebody in publishing is really asleep on this one.

I read this book when I lived in Yola (just south of Lassa) by accident and was surprised to find I was so close to such an infamous place but never went there. For me it captures Nigeria pretty well as well as chronicling the path of such a lethal disease. I decided to buy a copy as it is such a good read and have been even more surprised that the "Out of Print" copy I got from Amazon was in really such excellent condition.

This is a great book. It chronicles the discovery of Lassa Fever from Africa to the US. I cannot believe that this book is unheard of, whereas The Hot Zone is a best seller. If this book had been released today (OK, 2 years ago) it would have beaten out THZ on the charts. Instead, it is unavailable, and a much better written, more exciting story goes unread. I have lent this book to scientists and laypeople, and everyone who has read this book has raved about it. Do yourself a favor, and check your local library.