false http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1167333206m/22126.jpg 22126 10 What do Russia, Zaire, Los Angeles, and--most likely--your community have in common? Each is woefully unprepared to deal with a major epidemic, whether it's caused by bioterrorism or by new or reemerging diseases resistant to antibiotics. After the publication of her critically acclaimed <I>The Coming Plague</I>, which looked at the reemergence of infectious diseases, Laurie Garrett decided to turn her highly honed reportorial skills to what she saw as the only solution--not medical technology, but public health. However, what she found in her travels was the collapse of public-health systems around the world, no comfort to a species purportedly sitting on a powder keg of disease. In <I>Betrayal of Trust</I>, Garrett exposes the shocking weaknesses in our medical system and the ramifications of a world suddenly much smaller, yet still far apart when it comes to wealth and attention to health.<p> With globalization, humans are more vulnerable to outbreaks from any part of the world; increasingly, the health of each nation depends on the health of all. Yet public health has been pushed down the list of priorities. In India, an outbreak of bubonic plague created international hysteria, ridiculous in an age when the plague can easily be treated with antibiotics--that is, if you have a public-health system in place. India, busy putting its newfound wealth elsewhere, didn't. In Zaire, the deadly Ebola virus broke out in a filthy and completely unequipped hospital, and would have kept up its rampage if the organization Doctors Without Borders hadn't stepped in, not with high-tech equipment or drugs, but with soap, protective gear, and clean water. Most of the world still doesn't have access to these basic public-health necessities. The 15 states of the former Soviet Union have seen the most astounding collapse in public health in the industrialized world. But during a cholera epidemic, officials refused to use the simple cure public-health workers have long relied on--oral rehydration therapy. Many of the problems in these nations can also be found in one degree or another in the U.S., where medical cures using expensive technology and drugs have been emphasized to the detriment of protecting human health. The result? More than 100,000 Americans die each year from infections caught in hospitals, and America has a disease safety net full of holes.<p> A Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist (for <I>Newsday</I> and others), Garrett has deftly turned what could have been a very dry subject into dramatic reportage, beginning with the eerie silence on the streets of Surat, India, where half the city's population (including doctors) fled the plague, while a thick white layer of DDT powdered the ground. Fascinating, frightening, and well-documented, <I>Betrayal of Trust</I> should be read not only by medical professionals and policymakers but the general public, and should galvanize a change in thinking and priorities. <I>--Lesley Reed</I> 23189 2000 Betrayal of Trust: The Collapse of Global Public Health total:152|5:58|4:65|3:26|2:2|1:1| 152 633 322 25 0 1 false false Mon Jun 25 09:52:33 -0700 2007 Mon Jun 25 09:59:59 -0700 2007
I heard Laurie Garrett on the radio talking about how a simulation of a flu epidemic in NYC would overwhelm every bed in every hospital ...more...]]> 4 1 false false Sat Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2000 Sat Sep 13 12:47:04 -0700 2008 Sat Sep 13 12:55:57 -0700 2008 once more...]]> 5 1 false false Sun Jun 15 00:00:00 -0700 2003 Mon Feb 04 19:29:53 -0800 2008 Mon Feb 04 19:35:51 -0800 2008 more...]]> 4 1 false false Sat Feb 01 00:00:00 -0800 2003 Tue Sep 25 13:49:08 -0700 2007 Tue Sep 25 13:52:33 -0700 2007 more...]]> 4 1 false false Sat Dec 15 22:51:12 -0800 2007 Sat Dec 15 22:52:38 -0800 2007 5 0 false false Wed Feb 25 06:51:18 -0800 2009 Sat Feb 07 18:43:25 -0800 2009 Wed Feb 25 06:51:18 -0800 2009 The Coming Plague and it was scary in point out our lack of preparation and the dwindling supply of money and support given by our then Republican government.

I am hope...more...]]> 5 0 false false Sun Mar 08 14:44:25 -0700 2009 Tue Mar 10 09:36:48 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2002 Mon Nov 16 17:21:16 -0800 2009 Mon Nov 16 17:25:00 -0800 2009 3 more...]]> 4 0 false false Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Sun Mar 08 18:31:33 -0700 2009 Sun Mar 08 18:34:18 -0700 2009 5 0 false false Sat Oct 10 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Oct 28 22:20:40 -0700 2009 Wed Oct 28 22:22:11 -0700 2009 5 0 false false Mon Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2001 Mon Jul 13 17:58:04 -0700 2009 Mon Jul 13 17:58:04 -0700 2009 3 0 false false Wed Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2003 Mon Sep 24 09:53:12 -0700 2007 Mon Sep 24 09:57:30 -0700 2007 more...]]> 5 0 false false Tue Apr 03 17:19:57 -0700 2007 Tue Apr 03 17:28:33 -0700 2007 more...]]> 4 0 false false Wed Jun 03 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun May 10 20:06:20 -0700 2009 Wed Jun 03 07:38:19 -0700 2009 3 0 false false Sun Jun 22 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Wed Jun 18 04:03:03 -0700 2008 Sun Jun 22 02:52:14 -0700 2008 more...]]> 4 0 false false Mon Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2005 Tue Oct 02 09:28:10 -0700 2007 Sat Oct 06 10:24:11 -0700 2007 5 0 false false Fri Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2003 Fri Jul 25 06:33:46 -0700 2008 Fri Jul 25 06:40:59 -0700 2008 4 0 false false Fri Feb 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Wed Jan 23 05:38:02 -0800 2008 Tue Feb 19 11:49:03 -0800 2008 4 0 false false Tue May 13 06:08:20 -0700 2008 Tue May 13 06:11:18 -0700 2008 4 0 false false Mon Sep 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Mon Oct 27 10:55:20 -0700 2008 Mon Oct 27 10:56:35 -0700 2008 once http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=22126