The great equalizer between humans and sheep, anthrax has filled us with morbid curiosity as far back as records exist. Once believed to be a manifestation of unholy fire, today it is seen as a weapon of deranged terrorists or sinister governments. Medical anthropologist Jeanne Guillemin's
Anthrax: The Investigation of a Deadly Outbreak examines the 1979 deaths of 64 Soviet citizens in the Ural mountains. Blamed at the time on tainted meat, Guillemin's team proved that a plume of spores from a nearby military site caused the event (Boris Yeltsin admitted this much at about the same time). Not just a medical detective story, Guillemin's book is also an insightful look into the effects such an outbreak has on survivors and a penetrating analysis of the prospects of biological warfare in the not-too-distant future. Starting in the local cemetery to find the victims' identities--the KGB had long ago seized their records--the team interviews survivors and kin, unleashing long-repressed feelings and yielding valuable information about those struck down. Ultimately, despite interference from the Russian military and civil service, the tainted meat hypothesis is refuted and clear evidence of illegal and dangerous research released. The reader is left to wonder about one Russian's suggestion that if the wind had changed course one day in 1979, hundreds of thousands might have died. Where does that leave us today?
--Rob Lightner
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Owner Reviews, Ratings, Comments and Criticism
Guillemin's fascinating story of the research conducted in Russia to find the truth behind the 1979 anthrax outbreak in Sverdlovsk, now Yaketerinburg says much about life under the old Soviet regime. Official silence on key information compunded with official statements never really believed by those hearing it lead to all sorts of wild rumors, many repeated by the US government which probably had little firm evidence to go on. (Given that many major disasters under the Soviet regime such as plane crashes, subway cave-ins and train wrecks were never publicly announced, US analysts might well have thought they were being reasonable in their reports of "thousands" dead in a release of anthrax spores.) The research steps taken by the Harvard University team, including the interviews conducted by Guillemin and her Russian assistants are laid out. The author recounts her reactions and those she interviews, showing the impact the outbreak had on the residents downwind of the mysterious Compound 19. She points how certain features of the Soviet regime assisted her : the lack of mobility for residents kept most survivors and relatives of the victims in the same neighborhoods, which made locating them for interviews much easier, and the centralized nature of the Soviet government enabled public health officials to quickly mobilize a response, saving some lives. "Anthrax" contains a rich bibliography for those with further interest in the history and use of biological weapons. The author restrains her obvious outrage at the existence and use of these weapons, hoping that publicizing their existence and potential threat will encourage the rest of us to take steps to contain and eventually eliminate them. To her credit, she does point out how public scares can exaggerate the usefulness of bio-weapons, and become excuses for continued restriction on the freedoms of the public. Recommended for those in public health and epidemiology, those concerned with the threat of biological weapons, and historians of the Former Soviet Union.
