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Hay fever. Peanut allergies. Eczema. Billions of people worldwide have some form of allergy; millions have one severe enough to seriously endanger their health. And over the past decade, the number of people diagnosed with allergy has been steadily increasing, an ever-growing medical burden on individuals, families, and our health care system. Medical anthropologist Theresa MacPhail, herself an allergy sufferer whose father died of a bee sting, set out to understand why. The result is a holistic and deeply researched examination of allergies, from their first medical description in 1819 to the mind-bending new treatments that are giving patients hope. MacPhail spent years interviewing hundreds of experts, patients and activists, in an effort to understand how recent changes in our environment and lifestyle are contributing to the dramatic rise in cases globally. Pollution, chemicals, antibiotics and, increasingly, climate change are all making our immune systems become more and more irritated. But, as she shows us in Allergic, understanding what is irritating us and why will help us to craft better environments in the future-so we can all breathe easier.
The incredible account of Sister Betty Jeffrey OAM and the Australian war nurses who survived the bombing of evacuation ship SS Vyner Brooke in February 1942, and subsequently spent three years in Japanese prison camps in Sumatra. During those perilous years surviving in squalid conditions, Sister Jeffrey kept a secret diary of day-to-day events which, after the war, was turned into a hugely successful book and radio serial: White Coolies. She would often write of the powerful sisterhood that evolved as the prisoners of war took strength from each other, even forming a vocal orchestra. White Coolies was a major inspiration for the 1997 film Paradise Road. Sisters in Captivity builds on those...
A antropóloga médica Theresa MacPhail, ela própria uma pessoa que sofre de alergias e cujo pai morreu devido a uma picada de abelha, dedicou-se a compreender o porquê desta morte. Este livro é uma análise global do fenómeno das alergias, desde a sua primeira descrição médica, em 1819, até ao desenvolvimento recente e alucinante de produtos biológicos e imunoterapias que estão a dar esperança aos doentes mais afetados. Para conseguir fazer este livro, Theresa passou algum tempo com centenas de especialistas, doentes e ativistas: subiu a um telhado com um controlador da qualidade do ar que conta manual e diligentemente o pólen, durante horas, todos os dias; conheceu uma mãe que...
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In The Viral Network, Theresa MacPhail examines our collective fascination with and fear of viruses through the lens of the 2009 H1N1 pandemic. In April 2009, a novel strain of H1N1 influenza virus resulting from a combination of bird, swine, and human flu viruses emerged in Veracruz, Mexico. The Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) announced an official end to the pandemic in August 2010. Experts agree that the global death toll reached 284,500. The public health response to the pandemic was complicated by the simultaneous economic crisis and by the public scrutiny of official response in an atmosphere of widespread connectivity. MacPhail follows the H1N1 influenza virus'...
A new strain of avian influenza makes its debut in a small village in Vietnam. Like a ricocheting bullet, the virus affects the lives people worldwide until it is stopped by a team of epidemiologists. Myriam is a British PR executive on holiday with her husband when he becomes the first person infected in Hong Kong. Her life is completely changed by the experience, in ways she never predicted. Brian is an American scientist who invents a new antiviral medication, but fakes test data so that it can be released early. Jie is an epidemiologist at the Chinese CDC in Beijing, who will solve the puzzle of the new virus. As the unknown virus quickly spreads its way across the globe, entire societies are affected and changed by the outbreak, leaving the reader with the ultimate question: What would be important to you, what would you do, if a pandemic actually occurred?