Published in the United States of America by Cherry Lake Publishing Ann Arbor Michigan www cherrylakepublishing com Consultants Michael A Stoto Professor of Health Systems Administration and Population Health Georgetown University School of Nursing Health Studies Marla Conn ReadAbility Inc Editorial direction Red Line Editorial Book design and illustration Design Lab Photo Credits Hinochika Shutterstock Images cover 1 National Museum of Health and Medicine AP Images 5 claffra Shutterstock Images 9 CDC 13 top left 13 top right 13 bottom left 13 bottom right 29 Maps com Corbis 15 Bettmann Corbis 18 BSIP UIG Getty Images 21 National Cancer Institute Science Faction Corbis 25 Shehzad Noorani Canadian Press AP Images 27 Copyright 2015 by Cherry Lake Publishing All rights reserved No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means without written permission from the publisher Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Koontz Robin Michal author The science of a pandemic by Robin Koontz pages cm Disaster science Audience Age 11 Audience Grades 4 to 6 Includes bibliographical references and index ISBN 978-1-63137-625-2 hardcover ISBN 978-1-63137-670-2 pbk ISBN 978-1-63137-715-0 pdf ebook ISBN 978-1-63137-760-0 hosted ebook 1 Epidemics Juvenile literature 2 Communicable diseases Epidemiology Juvenile literature 3 Communicable diseases Prevention Juvenile literature I Title RA653 5 K66 2015 614 4 dc23 2014004031 Cherry Lake Publishing would like to acknowledge the work of The Partnership for 21st Century Skills Please visit www p21 org for more information Printed in the United States of America Corporate Graphics Inc July 2014 ABOUT THE AUTHOR Robin Koontz is an award-winning author and illustrator of a wide variety of books and articles for children and young adults In 2011 she was an Animal Behavior Society Outstanding Children’s Book Award Finalist Koontz lives with her husband in the Coast Range of western Oregon
TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER 1 Dangers Among Us 4 CHAPTER 2 Too Close for Comfort 8 CHAPTER 3 A Horrifying History 14 CHAPTER 4 Detection and Tracking 20 CHAPTER 5 Beating Diseases 24 TOP FIVE WORST PANDEMICS 30 LEARN MORE 31 GLOSSARY 32 INDEX 32
21st century skills library 4 Dangers Among Us chapter 1 A terrible disaster struck the world in 1918 and 1919 In the course of about 18 months approximately 500 million people around the world became sick More than 50 million people died from the worst outbreak of influenza or flu in known history The deadly flu spread so quickly that laws were passed in an effort to slow it It was made illegal in some public places to cough spit or sneeze People wore masks when they went outside
disaster science 5 The 1918 flu pandemic left millions dead Masks are still an effective way to prevent the spread of a disease microbe A single sneeze can send a tiny microbe all the way across a room Some microbes can live outside a body for 48 hours or more During that time they can infect anyone with whom they come in contact Unless a mask blocks them microbes can easily invade people’s bodies through the nose or mouth Most people have a healthy immune system It works to protect us against flu viruses and other germs We encounter potentially disease-causing microbes
