02622cam a2200337 i 4500 605908591 TxAuBib 20221024120000.0 220907s2022||||||||||||||||||||||||eng|u bl2022027944 9781982164362 HRD 29.99 1982164360 HRD 29.99 TxAuBib rda Quammen, David, 1948-, author. Breathless [BOOK] : the scientific race to defeat a deadly virus / Daniel Quammen. First Simon & Schuster hardcover edition. New York : Simon & Schuster, 2022. viii, 406 pages ; 24 cm. txt rdacontent n rdamedia nc rdacarrier Includes bibliographical references (pages 359-394) and index. Breathless is the story of SARS-CoV-2 and its fierce journey through the human population, as seen by the scientists who study its origin, its ever-changing nature, and its capacity to kill us. David Quammen expertly shows how strange new viruses emerge from animals into humans as we disrupt wild ecosystems, and how those viruses adapt to their human hosts, sometimes causing global catastrophe. He explains why this coronavirus will probably be a “forever virus,” destined to circulate among humans and bedevil us endlessly, in one variant form or another. As scientists labor to catch it, comprehend it, and control it, with their high-tech tools and methods, the virus finds ways of escape. Based on interviews with nearly one hundred scientists, including leading virologists in China and around the world, Quammen explains that: infectious disease experts saw this pandemic coming; some scientists, for more than two decades, warned that “the next big one” would be caused by a changeable new virus—very possibly a coronavirus—but such warnings were ignored for political or economic reasons; the precise origins of this virus may not be known for years, but some clues are compelling, and some suppositions can be dismissed; and much more. Breathless takes you inside the frantic international effort to understand and control SARS-CoV-2 as if we were peering over the shoulders of the brilliant scientists who led the chase. Provided by publisher. 20221024. COVID-19 (Disease.) COVID-19 Pandemic, 2020-2023. COVID-19 vaccines. . Coronavirus infections. Epidemics. Virus diseases.