The Plague Race - A Tale of Fear, Science and Heroism (Paperback, New edition)

This is the story of how one brave scientist unlocked the mystery at the heart of this most feared of diseases. This discovery was made in Hong Kong at the beginning of the 20th century, during an outbreak that threatened to decimate the island and, from there, the world. A tense and frightening race was run in appalling conditions by two rival scientists: Alexandre Yersin - rigorous, solitary, cerebral - and the suave Kitasaka, unscrupulous, enigmatic, careless. Spiced with anecdotes, facts and chilling reconstructions, this investigation of the plague in the modern world brings some disturbing facts to light.