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The Deadliest Pandemic

History of the 1918 avian influenza pandemic plus an appendix of the recent ebola outbreak.

London Book Festival Honorable Mention

$8.49

London Book Festival Honorable Mention

The 1918 avian influenza pandemic has been called “the greatest medical holocaust in history.” In a few short months, it killed 50 100 million people. It had a very high mortality rate, in excess of 2%, whereas annual flu epidemics, which kill 250 500 thousand people each year, have a mortality rate of about 0.1%. The 1918 flu pandemic killed more people in a year than the Black Death of the Middle Ages killed in a century; it killed more people in 25 weeks than HIV/AIDS killed in 25 years.

A new strain of flu, labeled “H5N1,” has emerged in recent years. H5N1 is good at killing having a mortality rate in excess of 50% but it is not yet good at spreading. Given that this virus is at least 10 20 times more deadly than the 1918 strain, if it mutates to the point of becoming equally contagious, it could then rival the ferocity of some strains of Ebola, and be as contagious as the common cold. That being the case, evidence suggests that at a minimum it would kill 500 million people, or 7% of the world s population

 

Year Published

2015

Author

David Ritchey

ISBN

9781882658268

Cover

Paperback

Size

5.5 x 8.5

Pages

112

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About the Author

After being educated in economics at Yale University, David Ritchey served five years as an officer in the U.S. Navy, including a year in Vietnam. Back in civilian life, he initially became a businessman as he had been trained but, suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, he dropped out, got a divorce, moved to a remote old stone farmhouse and took up fine art photography as his vocation, winning over 60 awards during the next fifteen years.

During that period, he became fascinated with the psychology and neurology of both creativity and metaphysics and returned to school to train as a psychotherapist. During his fifteen years of clinical practice specializing in hypnotherapy, he undertook a twelve-year project to research and write about such subjects and his first book, The H.I.S.S. of the A.S.P., was published in 2003. Writing proved to be every bit as rewarding as photography and became his primary vocation. Being an inveterate learner, he focused on non-fiction subjects, enjoying the research as much as the writing. His more than forty published works have won over 25 literary awards. His books can be found at www.davidritchey-author.com and online book stores.

See Books by David Ritchey Here

His avocations have included scuba diving, sailing, skiing, tennis, golf, gardening, woodworking, dogs, magic, bridge, and Scrabble. He has two adult children, Harper and Mac, and one almost-adult grandchild, Brendan. He lives in historic Bucks County, Pennsylvania, and spends most of his time either writing or engaging in stimulating conversations over restaurant meals with close friends.