致命敌人 – Deadliest Enemy: Our War Against Killer Germs by Michael T. Osterholm, Mark Olshaker

传染病是21世纪全球头号威胁，因长期存在且难以察觉，成为全人类的致命敌人。大流行病的暴发，一夜之间改变全球的贸易、工业、旅行和日常生活，我们所关切的不仅是感染率和死亡率的数字，还有疾病对世界经济、政治、人类福祉的次生灾害。

但如今我们对现代大流行病的类型、传播途径、治疗手段和预防方法了解得太少，对于公共卫生事业给予的关注和投资太少。每当人类战胜一次重大疫情，常将疾病的伤痛和损失抛诸脑后。只有少数科学家在积极准备应对下一次流行病。

作者以美国流行病专家、传染病研究与政策负责人的视野，讲述他在艾滋病、结核病、疟疾、SARS和MERS直至新冠暴发期间40余年的工作经验与个人回忆，让大流行病的全貌走出公卫教科书，走进21世纪的真实社会环境。他不仅解答什么是流行病、如何为致病微生物分类、疾病的传播方式与防治等基础科学常识，也讲述流行病学家作为“疾病侦探”缉捕病毒“真凶”的悬疑故事，尽早救治患者并防患于未然。

书中以精彩推演预言了当前全球传染病肆虐的图景，什么是阻碍我们应对重大疫情的现实因素？疫苗研发因为周期漫长而半途而废，人们习惯相信疫苗有害或无效的谣言，患者和医生因恐惧而滥用抗生素，在部分地区，由于饮食需求和传统习俗，人们无力阻止病毒的动物宿主扩散疾病……

A leading epidemiologist shares his “powerful and necessary” stories from the front lines of our war on infectious diseases and explains how to prepare for global epidemics (Richard Preston, author of The Hot Zone).

Unlike natural disasters, whose destruction is concentrated in a limited area over a period of days, and illnesses, which have devastating effects but are limited to individuals and their families, infectious disease has the terrifying power to disrupt everyday life on a global scale, overwhelming public and private resources and bringing trade and transportation to a grinding halt.

In today’s world, it’s easier than ever to move people, animals, and materials around the planet, but the same advances that make modern infrastructure so efficient have made epidemics and even pandemics nearly inevitable. And as outbreaks of COVID-19, Ebola, MERS, and Zika have demonstrated, we are woefully underprepared to deal with the fallout. So what can — and must — we do in order to protect ourselves from mankind’s deadliest enemy?

Drawing on the latest medical science, case studies, policy research, and hard-earned epidemiological lessons, Deadliest Enemy explores the resources and programs we need to develop if we are to keep ourselves safe from infectious disease. The authors show how we could wake up to a reality in which many antibiotics no longer cure, bioterror is a certainty, and the threat of a disastrous influenza or coronavirus pandemic looms ever larger. Only by understanding the challenges we face can we prevent the unthinkable from becoming the inevitable.

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