Читать книгу FIGHT BACK - Chauncey W. Crandall - Страница 7

When I awakened on January 21, 2020, there was no hint of the nightmare to come. But the first case of an unknown illness had just been confirmed in Washington state, and the 2019 novel coronavirus, or coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19), had begun silently creeping into the United States. Fewer than three months later, all of our fifty states would be under a disaster declaration for the first time in U.S. history!

How could this happen? How could a microscopic viral pathogen bring down not only our economy but that of other great countries in the world?

Unlike some others, I have seen other pandemics up close. I have been involved in fighting epidemics throughout my career, including AIDS, malaria, dysentery, and cholera.

Prior to becoming a cardiologist, I trained to become an anthropologist, and I learned to appreciate that there is more than Western medicine, that the medical systems created by ancient cultures have much to teach us.

One thing that has perplexed scientists since the world first learned of COVID-19 is the mystery of how this pathogen can cause such wildly varying results. It’s puzzling how some people don’t even get symptoms, others survive it relatively unscathed, and yet in some people, it kills.

I can come to only one conclusion—our best defense against COVID-19 is to prevail over this virus by becoming stronger and healthier and by strengthening our immune system so that can fight back against it.

Throughout this book, I will give you many strategies to use in fighting COVID-19, and as this is a formidable virus, I want you to pay attention to all of them.

But pay special attention to the chapters in part 3 on immunity, because I believe that within the immune system lies the secret to how you can personally fight back against COVID-19.

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We must remember we are at war now with an invisible enemy, and Winston Churchill’s statement is just as pertinent now as it was during World War II:

“We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender!”