North York Central Library Blog

In Romeo and Juliet, Mercutio curses the feuding families by wishing "A plague on both your houses". I find it interesting that in Shakespeare's time a plague - a disease - was considered one of the worst curses one could wish on an enemy.

Burying Plague Victims of Tournai. Public doman image.

What was once known as a plague we now call a pandemic - a widespread outbreak of a communicable disease, sometimes with a significant mortality rate.

Fear of pandemics is understandable

The Black Death (bubonic plague) killed over 50 million people in Asia and Europe between 1339-51, and the single worst pandemic in recorded history, the Spanish flu, killed about the same number of people in a single year (1918-19). Other pandemics, while not as deadly, have also had devastating consequences.

But is it rational?

On the one hand, we have more information about prevention, causes and treatments for communicable diseases than ever before. It's easier for public health officials to communicate alerts and warnings. On the other hand, increased international travel has meant that disease can spread more quickly than previously around the globe.

Learn more

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), over 10,000 people died during the recent Ebola outbreak. The speed with which the virus spread, the lack of effective treatments and the high mortality rate caused concern and fear around the world. There were similar concerns during the SARS outbreak in 2003 and over the possible reappearance of avian or bird flu.

Preparing to enter Ebola treatment unit 
[CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Graduate students from the University of Toronto's Department of Immunology want to clear up some of our misconceptions about Ebola. On Tuesday April 14 they will be giving a talk at the North York Central Library about how viruses infect humans. Focusing on the Ebola virus, they will discuss the biological and sociological factors behind the recent outbreak and explain why the virus spread more in some regions than in others. 

What:   What's in an Outbreak?: an overview of Ebola and infectious disease

Where: North York Central Library

When:  Tuesday April 14, 7:00 pm

To learn more about Ebola and other infectious diseases, check out these websites:

• Ebola  (World Health Organization)
• Ebola Virus Disease  (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
• Avian Influenza  (MedLinePlus)
• Severe Acute Resiratory Syndrome (SARS)  (Health Canada)
• Pandemic and Epidemic Diseases (World Health Organization Global Alert and Response)          

 Books and DVDs about infectious diseases are available at library branches:

Plague has long been the subject of novels and films: