Deadliest Enemy Our War against Killer Germs by Osterholm and Olsher - Book Report/Review Example

Osterholm and Olsher Critical Review

The book entitled "Deadliest Enemy: Our War against Killer Germs" by Osterholm and Olsher's main argument is on major infectious disease problems. The 14 chapters start with HIV/AIDS in the last three decades, series of respiratory complications, Zika Virus Disease, and Ebola. Osterholm provides personal experience with La Crosse encephalitis, demonstrating his skills as scientists on major infectious diseases globally. The book's explicit objective is to evaluate the emerging paradigm for the dangers posed by the outbreak of disease epidemics in the 21st century. The book applies attention to seeking a technique to emphasize the maladies holding the potential to interfere with political, economic, social, and emotional well being global. Significant policy issues are highlighted from the fields of influenza study, bioterrorism, the anti-vaccine movements, and microbial mutations.

The book provides critical insights by going past boundaries of diluted journalistic analysis of diseases and their implications. Lessons from other books make my interpretations to be policy and scientific oriented approaches as solutions to the challenges. For instance, the topic of "game-changing influenza vaccines" and "Taking Off the Influenza from the table" is a critical reflection of insights given in other readings (Osterholm & Olsher, 2017). The book corresponds to vital lessons on the shortcomings in combating diseases in a situation where traditional business and technological methods fail to be effective. It offers a strong rationale and approach to explain ideas on fighting microbial resistance as a possible solution to the public health challenges.

Inexperience with Covid-19 diseases aligns with the book's arguments that pandemics are imminent, outbreaks overwhelming, and the danger posed by bioterrorism. The book argues that we are well aware of how to minimize, but due ignorance, we become responsible for the morbidity and mortality that happens. Osterholm recommends training a new crop of public health experts committed to public health action while describing the policy and study crucial for directly addressing the problem. It aligns with my experience with Covid-19, where people have ignored potential emergency outbreaks and their implications. In the current epidemic, people were warned about the impact of the spreading of Coronavirus when it was discovered in China. Influential individuals such as incumbent the United States President Donald refuted the intelligence reports on the potential threat but ignored it, terming it as mere fever. The president failed to rally health personnel against the outbreak within the national borders despite the real insights on how to combat the spread. It aligns with the book argues that people are aware of how to minimize but fail to take action, thus accounting for the implications. The United States government was unable to take necessary precautionary measures and research; therefore, the mistake has already caused a substantial number of American lives.

The current global exposure to the epidemic is likely to attract significant adjustments in the international global economy. The global outbreak has caused a wave of panic amid victim figures explosion, deteriorating economies, reduced physical mobility & social interactions, inadequate or lack of preparations by the national government, and desperate attempts by global agencies to find the vaccine. The pandemic has exposed the shortcoming in the health care system posing threats on cataclysmic economic ruins. The wreckage is caused by events such as a decline in the global international and stock markets that are going down in an unpredictable trajectory. The disease is causing critical implications on social, emotional, and mental harassment by paralyzing many people with home isolation being on the rise. The international political economy is set to change due to implications of torn ideological expectations and political relevance of political leaders resulting in increased agitation for more influential governments. An increasing populist onslaught against science and experts has received retribution as high costs for the epidemic, and population disobedience escalate. Similarly, the epidemic has eliminated the existence notion on masters of the universe, given the virus fails to discriminate against anyone. It compromises the ruler of the universe's jet setting, living while erasing the stuffed equity portfolios.

The global experience with Covid-19 downplays the interdependent encouragement of globalization and nationalism. The current epidemic has demonstrated a lack of adherence to the national boundaries in the world despite the countries combating measures relying on fortifying their borders. It adds weight to the limitations of neoliberal globalization that have influenced the world since the 1980s as well as populists nationalism that has caused social and economic inequalities. The international political economy will cause the elimination of such biased politics that contributes to the disparity among the nations. The outbreak has exposed that superiority or inferiority does not reign within borders but a common challenge to all human beings.

The book has underemphasized the need to direct substantial resources in preventing epidemic as the case with the war against terror. I think it is underemphasized given that the world government has prioritized more on the fight against terrorism but ignored the aspect of bioterrorism. The focus should be on imminent epidemics due to the enemy's nature where terror is visible while the virus outbreak is fighting an invisible enemy. The book should have offered practical solutions on how the world can effectively deal with a virus that does not only cost more lives but also challenging to combat. The consensus is that the world is under limited time to adequately tackle the next epidemic that has to be centered around decisiveness and purpose.

The author's assumption is that the world policies are aimed at combating visible enemies such as terrorists but ignore the epidemic causes of morbidity and mortality. The premises are based on the number of resources directed towards research and the training of reliable public health personnel. If the author had assumed that more attention is given to combating the imminent epidemic, the argument could have changed. It could be based on the emergency of beyond human level epidemics directing the blame on natural selection. The evidence in the book coincides with the ongoing world epidemic where governments have been caught off guard by the disease. For instance, in early November, President Trump bragged that America had invested a lot of funds in the military, thus the most reliable power. However, the Trump administration failed to think about an epidemic that cannot be solved by military interventions. The incumbent was unable to take drastic measures such as research that could have saved the lost American lives.

The best recommendations for policymakers, such as president, criminal justice agencies, and others, are focusing on more studies to eliminate imminent epidemic or minimize its impact. The current world is evolving fast in terms of attack method where bioterrorism is replacing the existing physical attacks. The policymakers should move swiftly to address practical solutions to emerging forms of aggression to maintain global influence socially, economically, and politically. If adequate funds had been channeled to research the effects of the epidemic could have been mitigated effectively. Research on the pandemic could be a crucial insight that an epidemic would cause more damage than the physical ones. It could be the basis for preventing the social, economic, and political implications of the Covid-19 outbreak.

As a concerned citizen, the best step to take is gathering knowledge and creating awareness on the need for collective society to rethink on imminent outbreaks. It seems that the world is stubborn to learn from the history of epidemics, such as Spanish Influenza that caused millions of deaths globally. Creating awareness is the best way to cope with issues since it appears humanity is suffering from ignorance despite understanding how to combat risks associated with epidemics.

Conclusion

The book by Osterholm and Olsher on the deadliest human fight against germs argues that epidemics are devastating due to human ignorance on combating the risks. It relates to the issue of Covid-19, given the level of ignorance depicted by many governments that results in lethal repercussions. The current world experience is set to change the international political economy by watering down the notion of the universe's masters. The book has underemphasized the need for research as a way of boosting efforts towards combating disaster outbreak. The assumption was based on little attempts by humans to minimize epidemics; thus, changing the trend is a critical insight to the policymakers. The best method as a concerned citizen is creating awareness to the rest of the society on the importance of getting prepared for the events of the time, such as bioterrorism.

Michael T. Osterholm and Mark Olsher, Deadliest Enemy: Our War against Killer Germs (Little, Brown, 2017, with a recent update on covid-19)