Bird Flu: Everything You Need to Know about the Next Pandemic

Superb. Dr. Marc Siegel's book "Bird Flu" portrays a concise, realistic and informative outlook on a media bred epidemic: fear and anxiety. Certainly an epidemic from bird flu is possible, I know of no one who disagrees. One, however, needs not confuse the terms possibility with probability. The irrational belief that the bird flu virus has a greater chance of mutating to humans in opposition to the thousands of other viruses currently in existence is unfounded. Certainly we should not remain naïve of such possibilities but we also need to take into consideration the probability of an epidemic from one particular virus that has yet to master the chain of specific mutations it would need in order to become pandemic. Even if this virus mutated to infect humans on a large scale, who is to say that its virility and potential deadly effects would also not alter and wither. If we resort to stockpiling antidotes to this one particular virus, must we then stockpile antidotes for every other potential viral metamorphosis? It is not only impossible to achieve, it is also illogical to think that we should. More research to develop means of developing appropriate vaccines quickly as well as global containment preparedness would be better served. To Dr. Siegel I say "BRAVO" and I hope that you continue educating your readers with such rational approaches.

Unlike the last reviewer, who seems to see danger lurking in every adverse event, I like Dr. Siegel's approach that indicates a pandemic is not created by easily occurring events. In reality, several steps must occur before a pandemic could develop. That these steps would all actually occur should not be assumed. Dr. Siegel does a good job in presenting a balanced appraisal of the risk; it does a disservice to this enlightened voice when a reviewer clearly seems not to have read the entire book. If all medical pundits were as knowledgeable and well reasoned as Dr. Siegel, there might be far less alarm, less fear-mongering, and therefore less profit in medical books -- but there might be more genuinely helpful information for those of us who need to know.

I think Dr. Siegel has taken a very rational view of the likelihood of an avian flu epidemic and I always like to read his books because of the way he interprets and understands the factual issues. Sure, there may be a spread of bird flu, but it's not very likely and he encourages people to be aware of the possibility but not go into hiding to avoid it. He does agree s that it might be a good idea in general to have emergency supplies of food and water around but in an method of downplaying any fear attached to avian flue, not not label them for bird flu use, because that gives these supplies too much prominence. I have heard Dr. Siegel many times on radio and seen him on TV and have always been impressed by his command of information and his logical conclusions.

As "bd" points out, in response to an earlier review, Dr. Siegel does advocate having emergency supplies of food and water. It is also important to note that he discourages labelling them as "for bird flu use", because to do so would increase panic.

Dr. Siegel's new book, Bird Flu, is a careful mixture of history and personal story, of birds and people. This balanced portrayal tracks avian influenza throughout history and in recent times, man's attempts to cope with it. Dr. Siegel has lengthy interviews with the top avian flu experts in the world, and he weighs the pandemic risks of the current H5N1 bird flu that is currently receiving so much attention. He tells us how to prepare, but also how not to overreact. This terrific book is very informative interesting reading.