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To jump to a specific review or excerpt, click here: The most important thing to know about the avian flu pandemic is that it probably ain't coming, argues this brisk debunking of the latest medical scare story. Siegel, an associate professor at the NYU School of Medicine (False Alarm: The Truth About the Epidemic of Fear), cites evidence that the death rate from avian flu could be much lower than the reported 50% and it will probably not mutate to be readily transmissible between humans. And unlike the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic, Siegel contends, a bird flu pandemic would face effective public health measures and medical treatments. Revisiting the West Nile virus, anthrax, SARS and bioterrorism panics, Siegel sees bird flu as the latest "bug du jour" hyped by government and media alarmism. Meanwhile, he complains, attention is diverted from far more deadly diseases like AIDS, malaria and regular flu; but in his own lapse into medical panic, he insists that stress induced by medical panics is itself a serious medical problem. Siegel accessibly presents the facts about avian flu, together with colorful anecdotes about his own panic-stricken patients whom he advises to simply eat right and exercise. Siegel's exemplary bedside manner makes this dose of common sense go down easy. Dr. Marc Siegel's slim volume, "Bird Flu: Everything You Need to Know About the Next Pandemic," contends that the world's response to SARS was inappropriate panic fueled by self-serving bureaucrats, and that we should all cool our jets over bird flu until it's really and truly here... Siegel, a practicing internist with a second career as a New York-based medical commentator, weaves in many useful and accurate facts about avian flu in the book that, by his own account, he raced to complete. .. his daily practice is peopled (as are those of many popular practitioners) with patients whose anxieties sometimes outstrip their common sense. For them, Siegel's book serves a purpose. Like the good doctor he no doubt is, he exhorts them to focus on what they can do now to protect their health: losing weight and stopping smoking, for starters, instead of staying awake at night over a threat that has not yet descended on humankind in a big way ? and perhaps never will. Claire Panosian Dunavan is professor of medicine and infectious diseases at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and a frequent contributor to the Book Review and Health sections. Excerpted From the Toronto Globe and Mail: [...Which brings me to another catastrophe-in-waiting, and a potential revenge-of-nature scenario: bird flu, which, if the shrillest Cassandras prove correct, will make most of the above dangers moot. There are at least four new books on avian influenza, or to give it its cuddly name, H5N1.] The title of Bird Flu: Everything You Need to Know About the Next Pandemic (Wiley, 202 pages, $16.99) seems to announce that it's a done deal. Make your will and put your affairs in order, folks. But New York University professor and practising internist Marc Siegel is a dab hand at limning public hysteria; his previous book, False Alarm: The Truth about the Epidemic of Fear, was chosen by Discover magazine as among the best science books of 2005. Although it's not quite true, as Franklin Roosevelt famously opined, that "we have nothing to fear but fear itself" (I can't find a term for fear of fear in any listing of phobias, so let's call it timorphobia), public hysteria is certainly contagious. Siegel, a reasonable man, discusses why some experts are worried, but also why panic is vastly premature, as well as a worse threat than the illness itself, although Asia had better look carefully to its strategies. Excerpted from From Diversion Magazine: AS PATIENTS NOTICED the book Bird Flu: Everything You Need to Know About the Next Pandemic sitting on my desk every one of them had the same reaction: Should I worry? Author Marc Siegel, M.D. expertly puts the likelihood and the fears of an avian flu pandemic into perspective. And thankfully, the answer to their question is, not really. Dr. Siegel, a practicing internist and associate professor at the New York University School of medicine, presents the fact and fiction of avian flus in a way any layman can understand. And while physicians may be familiar with the science involved, the author's skill at assessing the risks of a future pandemic may give us new ways of thinking about the problem and help us to answer patients' questions. Dr. Siegel analyzes the science of flu viruses and the animal and bird vectors that spread them. Just how likely is an avian flu mutation to occur, making it contagious human to human? Not very. If that does happen, will the new virus be highly contagious? Hard to say, but again, not likely. Strategically, Dr. Siegel suggests, we should go after avian flu where it is today - in birds. If we want to protect ourselves, we should probably be spending money on vaccinations for the millions of domestic chickens overseas, the most likely source of an outbreak. (And he adds that while we worry about an avian flu pandemic, SARS and terrorism, Americans continue to live a lifestyle that allows heart disease, diabetes and cancer to kill us in large numbers.) One of the most important things his book does is to delve into the emotions of fear - explaining why that is what we should fear the most. Fear is an early-warning system that protects us against imminent danger. but Dr. Siegel maintains that as a deep-rooted emotion, it also interferes with our judgment. He claims the government (with help from the media) deliberately creates a culture of fear by barraging us with worst-case scenarios and information we do not fully understand. According to Dr. Siegel, "Public health doesn't have a great batting average over the last few years, warning us about mad cow disease, anthrax, smallpox, West Nile virus and SARS. None of these," he writes, "has progressed into the realm of killer diseases dominated by AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. Yet all were touted and promoted as the 'next AIDS.'" Dr. Siegel acknowledges the current loss of confidence in our leaders, adding that FEMA's relentless focus on antiterrorism has rendered the agency dysfunctional in the face of risks - such as influenza - that would likely affect a greater number of people. Dr. Siegel has provided us with an easy-to-read antidote to the evening news. The answer to the question of whether you, your family and your patients are safe - probably - is likely as good an answer as we're going to get. Norman Lanes, D.O., is a cardiologist and geriatrist who also works as a Police Surgeon for the New York City Police Department. |
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Copyright © 1990-2007 Marc K. Siegel, M.D. |