The Autumn Ghost

How the Battle Against a Polio Epidemic Revolutionized Modern Medical Care

De: Hannah Wunsch

Narrado por: Emily Durante

Americans knew polio as the "summer plague." In countries further North, however, the virus arrived later in the year. It was described by one writer as "the autumn ghost."

Intensive care units and mechanical ventilation are the crucial foundation of modern medical care: without them, the appalling death toll of the COVID-19 pandemic would be even higher. In The Autumn Ghost, Dr. Hannah Wunsch traces the origins of these two innovations back to a polio epidemic in the autumn of 1952. Drawing together testimony from doctors, nurses, medical students, and patients, Wunsch relates a gripping tale of an epidemic that changed the world.

Wunsch tells the true story of how insiders and iconoclasts came together in one overwhelmed hospital in Copenhagen to save the lives of many polio patients dying of respiratory failure. Their radical advances in care marked a turning point in the treatment of patients around the world-from the rise of life support and the creation of intensive care units to the evolution of rehabilitation medicine.

The Autumn Ghost will leave listeners in awe of the courage of those who battled the polio epidemic, and grateful for the modern medical care they pioneered.

©2023 Hannah Wunsch (P)2024 Tantor

Important medical history grippingly told, multiple pronunciation mistakes

This book reads like a novel but tells of an important snd neglected piece of medical history. The author brings individual stories, scientific advances and the scope of an epidemic fully alive. As a physician, there are multiple mispronunciations of medical words throughout the text (e.g., sulfonamide, opisthotonus) as well as some simpler more commonplace words. The author or editors should have listened to the audiobook and corrected this. It was quite distracting to hear these words mispronounced and detracted from the overall listening experience. Kudos to the author though for a wonderfully researched and written book.

very interesting!

I was surprised how many medical advances came out of this epidemic. This book is well written and full of interesting facts and personal stories.

A must read book for physicians

Wow! This book highlights the importance of history and innovation in medicine. I am recommending this book to everyone. Tragic and triumphant.