Читать книгу Principles of Virology, Volume 2 - Jane Flint, S. Jane Flint - Страница 24

In the apocalyptic movies I Am Legend (2007), Contagion (2011), and World War Z (2013), fictional epidemics are depicted following introduction of a virus into a naïve human population. (In some of these films, the virus turned the infected victims into zombies; although viruses cause many diverse outcomes, zombification is not among them.) Some of these doomsday films include a scene in which an epidemiologist ominously describes the devastating consequences of uncontrolled, exponential viral spread through a population. These movies were certainly frightening, but ultimately comforting, as humans, with improbable speed, developed strategies to limit viral spread. But how realistic is this Hollywood vision? One could argue that proof of our triumph over viral pathogens can be found in the eradication of smallpox and the development of vaccines to prevent infection by many viruses that historically resulted in much sickness and loss of life. However, there is a risk in becoming self-congratulatory. Doing so makes us ignorant of how quickly a virus can spread in a susceptible population, as the recent SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has taught us. When epidemics and pandemics occur in real life, there is a pervasive feeling of helplessness, and often interventions are not developed in time to mitigate substantial clinical impact. The stories that follow highlight the financial toll, loss of life, and historical ramifications of viral outbreaks, and underscore a new reality: the increased mobility of human and animal populations on the planet has almost certainly accelerated the emergence of epidemics.