The Death of a Disease: A History of the Eradication of Poliomyelitis by Bernard Seytre and Mary Shaffer. Piscataway, NJ: Rutgers University Press; 2005. 161 pages, paperback $22.95.
"The Death of a Disease" is a historical journey through decades of international public health efforts to combat poliomyelitis. Authors Seytre and Shaffer chronologically describe the scientific contributions that were crucial in developing effective vaccines and other control efforts that have led the global campaign to eradicate poliomyelitis today, a valuable reminder of the public health infrastructure required to protect countries from emerging infectious disease.
This text will assist healthcare professionals in understanding poliomyelitis disease and its impact on today's society. The authors write in an easy-to-read, logical format that facilitates an in-depth understanding of the effects of poliomyelitis on humankind. The early chapters provide accurate contextual and statistical information about the pathogenicity of the polio virus. The strength of this text is the concentrated detail of the contributions of scientists Jonas Salk and Albert Sabin during the mid-twentieth century as the race for an effective vaccine was under way. The debate over the effectiveness of an attenuated, live virus versus inactivated virus broadens the reader's perspective to the ethical issues and self-sacrificing acts that scientists endured in the race to respond to the public's demands amidst emerging polio outbreaks in developed countries. The text concludes with a description of the World Health Organization's Global Polio Eradication Initiative that continues to control the spread of polio today, including considerations of the bioterrorism capacity of this virus.
An underlying assumption of the text is that the reader has a basic understanding of public health fundamentals and infectious disease transmission, which may limit its usefulness, depending on the setting in which the reader applies. It is certainly appropriate for nurses and other allied healthcare professionals who educate the general public about infectious disease control. As public health faculty at a BSN school of nursing, I appreciate the detailed ethical issues and health policy examples that this text provides in advocating for global health through the development and administration of vaccines.
Overall, this text provides an excellent historical account of the international public health efforts and challenges experienced in the eradication of polio. Lessons learned from Sabin's and Salk's experiences in effective vaccine development and public dissemination of accurate disease control information are certainly pearls that can be applied to our present-day environment of emerging infectious disease.
Christine Eisenhauer, MSN, APRN,BC
Assistant Professor of Nursing, Mount Marty College, Yankton, South Dakota