A new virus descended on the human species in 2019 wreaking unprecedented havoc. Finding out where it came from and how it first jumped into people is an urgent priority, but early expectations that this would prove an easy question to answer have been dashed. Nearly two years into the pandemic, the crucial mystery of the origin of SARS-CoV-2 is not only unresolved but has deepened.

In this uniquely insightful book, a scientist and a writer join forces to try to get to the bottom of how a virus whose closest relations live in bats in subtropical southern China somehow managed to begin spreading among people more than 1,500 kilometres away in the city of Wuhan. They grapple with the baffling fact that the virus left none of the expected traces that such outbreaks usually create: no infected market animals or wildlife, no chains of early cases in travellers to the city, no smouldering epidemic in a rural area, no rapid adaptation of the virus to its new host—human beings.

To try to solve this pressing mystery, Viral delves deep into the events of 2019 leading up to 2021, the details of what went on in animal markets and virology laboratories, the records and data hidden from sight within archived Chinese theses and websites, and the clues that can be coaxed from the very text of the virus’s own genetic code.

The result is a gripping detective story that takes the reader deeper and deeper into a metaphorical cave of mystery. One by one the authors explore promising tunnels only to show that they are blind alleys, until, miles beneath the surface, they find themselves tantalisingly close to a shaft that leads to the light.

For those who could read between the lines, the censored news out of China was terrifying. But the president insisted there was nothing to worry about. Fortunately, we are still a nation of skeptics. Fortunately, there are those among us who study pandemics and are willing to look unflinchingly at worst-case scenarios.

Michael Lewis’s taut and brilliant nonfiction thriller pits a band of medical visionaries against the wall of ignorance that was the official response of the Trump administration to the outbreak of COVID-19. The characters you will meet in these pages are as fascinating as they are unexpected.

A thirteen-year-old girl’s science project on transmission of an airborne pathogen develops into a very grown-up model of disease control. A local public-health officer uses her worm’s-eye view to see what the CDC misses, and reveals great truths about American society. A secret team of dissenting doctors, nicknamed the Wolverines, has everything necessary to fight the pandemic: brilliant backgrounds, world-class labs, prior experience with the pandemic scares of bird flu and swine flu…everything, that is, except official permission to implement their work.

Michael Lewis is not shy about calling these people heroes for their refusal to follow directives that they know to be based on misinformation and bad science. Even the internet, as crucial as it is to their exchange of ideas, poses a risk to them. They never know for sure who else might be listening in.

My name is TT Mbha and I'm going to take you through a 19-day journey of how I recovered from having tested positive for Covid-19 on the 24th of June 2020 and finally recovered on the 9th of July 2020, and finally started and launched Tough Talk with TT on the 12th of July. So if you count the days from the 24th of June all the way to the 12th of July, it is 19 days; and its these 19 days that have shaped and changed my life for the better and I would like to share the journey and story with the hope that somebody out there, you reading this book right now, can get hope and healing.

Tough Talk with TT is all about bringing hope and healing to our nation and so as we navigate these 19 chapters, which are represented by each day, I really hope you will receive the healing that is intended to come your way. I'm very big on being a channel. Being a channel is something very close to my heart. What does being a channel mean? Whatever we touch, we leave fingerprints, and as we touch other people's lives; we leave our identity in them.

Life is better when you're happy, but life is at its best when others are happy because of you. Be faithful in touching other people's hearts. Be an inspiration. Nothing is more important and worth practicing than being a channel of God's blessing. Nothing in nature lives for itself. Rivers do not drink their own water, trees do not eat their own fruits, the sun does not shine for itself and certainly flowers do not spread their fragrance for themselves.

Living for others is a rule of nature. We are all born to help one another. No matter how difficult of a situation you find yourself in, still, do good for others. This for me has been such an important message that Ive learnt during the past 19 days. I'd like to put a disclaimer upfront; this is by no means a perfect book; it is not meant to showcase a perfect life. In actual fact it is all about exposing the imperfections that we all have as human beings. Allow me to be human by reading this book from the eyes, hearts and minds of a human being.

Quarantine has shaped our world, yet it remains both feared and misunderstood. It is our most powerful response to uncertainty, but it operates through an assumption of guilt: in quarantine, we are considered infectious until proven safe. An unusually poetic metaphor for moral and mythic ills, quarantine means waiting to see if something hidden inside of us will be revealed.

Until Proven Safe tracks the history and future of quarantine around the globe, chasing the story of emergency isolation through time and space – from the crumbling lazarettos of the Mediterranean to the hallways of the CDC, to the corporate giants hoping to disrupt the widespread quarantine imposed by Covid-19 before the next pandemic hits through surveillance and algorithmic prediction.

Yet quarantine is more than just a medical tool: Geoff Manaugh and Nicola Twilley drop deep into the Earth to tour a nuclear-waste isolation facility beneath the New Mexican desert, strip down to nothing but protective Tyvek suits to see plants stricken with a disease that threatens the world’s wheat supply, and meet NASA’s Planetary Protection Officer tasked with saving the Earth from extraterrestrial infections.

The result is part travelogue, part intellectual history – a book as compelling as it is definitive, and one that could not be more urgent or timely.

From tuberculosis to bird flu and HIV to coronavirus, these infectious diseases share a common origin story: human interaction with animals. Otherwise known as zoonotic diseases for their passage from animals to humans, these pathogens - both pre-existing ones and those newly identified - emerge and re-emerge throughout history, sparking epidemics and pandemics that have resulted in millions of deaths around the world. How did these diseases come about? And what-if anything-can we do to stop them and their fatal march into our countries, our homes, and our bodies?

In How to Survive a Pandemic, Dr. Michael Greger, physician and internationally-recognized expert on public health issues, delves into the origins of some of the deadliest pathogens the world has ever seen. Tracing their evolution from the past until today, Dr. Greger spotlights emerging flu and coronaviruses as he examines where these pathogens originated, as well as the underlying conditions and significant human role that have exacerbated their lethal influence to large, and even global, levels.

As the world grapples with the devastating impact of the novel coronavirus 2019, Dr. Greger reveals not only what we can do to protect ourselves and our loved ones during a pandemic, but also what human society must rectify to reduce the likelihood of even worse catastrophes in the future.

From award-winning science journalist Dr Michael Mosley: the story of Covid-19, the greatest public health threat of our time...

This book charts the trajectory of the Covid-19 virus, from its emergence in China at the end of 2019 to its rapid worldwide spread. Based on the latest scientific discoveries, Dr Mosley gives you a detailed understanding of the secrets of this Coronavirus, how it spreads, how it infects your body and how your immune system tries to fight back. Armed with the facts you'll be in a much better position to protect yourself and your family when the world begins to reopen.

Dr Mosley also follows the work of leading doctors and virus researchers as they battle to find treatments and a safe and effective vaccine (ultimately, the only way to defeat the virus).

A sweeping germ's-eye view of history from human origins to global pandemics Plagues upon the Earth is a monumental history of humans and their germs. Weaving together a grand narrative of global history with insights from cutting-edge genetics, Kyle Harper explains why humanity's uniquely dangerous disease pool is rooted deep in our evolutionary past, and why its growth is accelerated by technological progress. He shows that the story of disease is entangled with the history of slavery, colonialism, and capitalism, and reveals the enduring effects of historical plagues in patterns of wealth, health, power, and inequality. He also tells the story of humanity's escape from infectious disease-a triumph that makes life as we know it possible, yet destabilizes the environment and fosters new diseases. Panoramic in scope, Plagues upon the Earth traces the role of disease in the transition to farming, the spread of cities, the advance of transportation, and the stupendous increase in human population. Harper offers a new interpretation of humanity's path to control over infectious disease-one where rising evolutionary threats constantly push back against human progress, and where the devastating effects of modernization contribute to the great divergence between societies. The book reminds us that human health is globally interdependent-and inseparable from the well-being of the planet itself. Putting the COVID-19 pandemic in perspective, Plagues upon the Earth tells the story of how we got here as a species, and it may help us decide where we want to go.

Understanding how Covid-19 started is more important than we know for the future of humankind. Determining whether the virus came from nature or from a lab will help us to safeguard against the next pandemic. This disease will forever punctuate modern history. It has led to the deaths of millions, sickened hundreds of millions and affected the lives of almost every person on the planet. We now know that Covid is here to stay. Genetic engineering expert Dr Alina Chan and renowned science writer Matt Ridley examine the origins of SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for Covid-19, using their formidable skills to scrutinise arguments and rigorously analyse the sprawling data. Viral is a fascinating account that takes in pangolins, horseshoe bats, internet sleuths and misleading scientific papers. It details the evidence and investigates hypotheses for the virus origin, chief among them a potential laboratory leak or a natural spillover. Science has made great strides over the last decades. Chan and Ridley give an insight into the proliferating pathogen research and virus hunting around the world. Whatever the source of the virus, the world needs to adopt new policies and strategies to prevent or mitigate future outbreaks. Set in the caves and mineshafts, food markets and wildlife smugglers' stores, laboratories and databases of China and elsewhere, Viral is a page-turner that reads like a detective novel and goes deeper into the deepest mystery of the day than any other work. This is the book on the search for the origin of Covid-19.

Learn everything you need to know to be an amazing virus warrior! This title sensitively explains what a virus is (including the coronavirus), how to combat it, and how to keep yourself and those you care about safe. It provides tips on how to keep yourself and your home germ­free, how to properly wash your hands and why you need to stop a virus from spreading around. Comforting, yet practical, this book is designed to allay fears, while at the same time encouraging and informing children on how to take care of their own safety and the safety of others.

Leer alles wat jy moet weet om ’n voortreflike virusvegter te wees! Hierdie titel verduidelik sagkens wat 'n virus is (insluitend die Coronavirus), hoe om dit te beveg en hoe om jouself en die mense vir wie jy omgee te beveilig teen virusse. Dit gee ook wenke oor hoe om jouself en julle huis virus­vry te hou, insluitend stappe oor hoe om jou hande te was en hoe en hoekom ons moet keer dat 'n virus oraloor versprei. Die boek is saamgestel om op 'n gerusstelende maar praktiese manier vrees uit die weg te ruim, en terselftertyd kinders aan te moeding en in te lig oor hoe om na hulle eie en ander se veiligheid om te sien.