We now know that the HIV-1 virus, responsible for the current HIV and AIDS pandemic, is thought to have mutated from the simian immunodeficiency virus found in West African chimpanzees. Influenza is a zoonotic disease, one that originates in another animal and is transmitted to humans. They may be what caused the recent global AIDS pandemic and West Africa Ebola virus epidemic. What is terrifying to note is that these same conditions exist today and are even more prevalent. The book does an excellent job at analyzing the conditions necessary to allow such a global pandemic to develop and affect the world. Other deadly historical epidemics and pandemics that have ravaged the world are also discussed, including the Black Death, smallpox, and typhus. The book describes the epidemiology and personal accounts of Spanish flu occurring throughout the world along with several theories on the origin of this catastrophic event. Pale Rider discusses the history of flu outbreaks, including the Spanish flu, starting from the first probable recorded episode of influenza described by Hippocrates in 412 bc up to the present time. The 100th anniversary of this event is rapidly approaching, and yet the Spanish flu epidemic has almost been forgotten by history. In addition, very few know that the first recorded case of the 1918 Spanish flu did not occur in Spain but closer to the American heartland in Kansas.

Throughout the world, the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic infected one-third of all humans and claimed an estimated 50 to 100 million lives. Very few people realize that this year saw the beginning of another global catastrophe that would claim more lives than both World War I and World War II combined. The year 1918 is remembered for the ending of World War I, also known as the Great War.

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