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The Autumn Ghost

How the Battle Against a Polio Epidemic Revolutionized Modern Medical Care

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The Autumn Ghost

By: Hannah Wunsch
Narrated by: Emily Durante
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About this listen

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 20th Century History & Commentary Health care Haunted
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Profile Image for charlotte

Fascinating story once it got past the cat torture

I wouldn’t select this again given how much of it is about torturing cats to death. However, if you are ok with that Id suggest buying the book rather than listening to the audible version as the narrator has a frightful American accent and simultaneously sounds like a robot with a blocked nose.

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