From Library Journal
This account of the latest rabies epidemic in the United States and the battle to halt its spread reads like a fast-paced thriller. Finley, a newspaper medical reporter, describes the canine rabies outbreak that began in Texas in 1988 and the epidemic of raccoon rabies that swept the East Coast from Florida to New York. He also tells the story of the struggle to develop an effective rabies vaccination program in the United States. Such a program has been developed successfully in European nations, but in our country the process has been hampered by politics and side issues. The protagonists in this real-life drama?scientists and public health officials who are often at odds with each other?emerge as strong characters. A gripping and informative book.?Deborah Emerson, Monroe Community Coll. Lib., Rochester, N.Y.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Publisher comments
How scientists and public health officials fought rabies
In January 1998, the Texas Department of Health began its fourth airdrop of an oral wildlife rabies vaccine. TDH's state-funded vaccination program for coyotes and foxes is the result of a scientific and political odyssey that began a decade ago. In his book Mad Dogs: The New Rabies Plague, author Don Finley traces the rabies plague as it spread from coyotes to domestic dogs and pet owners along the U.S.-Mexico border as another rabies epizootic raced through the raccoon populations from Florida to New York. Library Journal's advance review (2/1/98) said that Mad Dogs "reads like a fast-paced thriller. . . . The protagonists in this real-life drama--scientists and public health officials who are often at odds with each other--emerge as strong characters. A gripping and informative book." Author Don Finley, who recently won the Pan American Health Organization's Award for Excellence in International Health Reporting (newspaper division) for his series on diabetes among minorities, is the medical reporter for the San Antonio Express-News.
In January 1998, the Texas Department of Health began its fourth airdrop of an oral wildlife rabies vaccine. TDH's state-funded vaccination program for coyotes and foxes is the result of a scientific and political odyssey that began a decade ago. In his book Mad Dogs: The New Rabies Plague, author Don Finley traces the rabies plague as it spread from coyotes to domestic dogs and pet owners along the U.S.-Mexico border as another rabies epizootic raced through the raccoon populations from Florida to New York. Library Journal's advance review (2/1/98) said that Mad Dogs "reads like a fast-paced thriller. . . . The protagonists in this real-life drama--scientists and public health officials who are often at odds with each other--emerge as strong characters. A gripping and informative book." Author Don Finley, who recently won the Pan American Health Organization's Award for Excellence in International Health Reporting (newspaper division) for his series on diabetes among minorities, is the medical reporter for the San Antonio Express-News.
