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Scourge: The Once and Future Threat of Smallpox
Scourge The Once and Future Threat of Smallpox
Author: Jonathan B. Tucker
Jonathan B. Tucker traces the history of the smallpox virus from its first recorded outbreak around 3700 B.C. through its use as the first biological warfare agent in human history, and draws some decisively important lessons for the future. In a timely debate, Tucker addresses the ever-growing concerns about the proliferation of the deadly smal...  more »
ISBN-13: 9780802139399
ISBN-10: 0802139396
Publication Date: 8/12/2002
Pages: 320
Rating:
  • Currently 3.5/5 Stars.
 1

3.5 stars, based on 1 rating
Publisher: Grove Press
Book Type: Paperback
Other Versions: Hardcover, Audio CD
Members Wishing: 0
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hardtack avatar reviewed Scourge: The Once and Future Threat of Smallpox on + 2719 more book reviews
Due to my love of history, I was hoping for more on smallpox and its effect on human history. But this was only a very small part of the book. There is more on the medical attempts to control smallpox, much of which I was already familiar with. I use to write and lecture on how insects, primarily insect-vectored diseases, changed history. As a result, I also became very interested in non-insect-vectored diseases.

After spending several chapters describing how the disease was eradicated world-wide, the book spends a great deal of time on the development of smallpox as a "military weapon," with the superpowers and others playing games with each other.

Plus, it included a review of a high-level U.S. military/health exercise using smallpox as a bio-terrorism weapon against the U.S. by extremists, which proved to be a failure for the government, very similar to the current government failure with Covid-19. As a result, readers will also realize where we went wrong with Covid-19.


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