Such a generous review of #PhantomPlague in the
@nybooks
“No city in the world had segregated the rich from the poor as efficiently as #Mumbai,” Krishnan writes.
The buildings are perfect breeding grounds for #Tuberculosis.
www.nybooks.com/articles/202...
Starting soon: our LIVE Q&A with #PhantomPlague author Vidya Krishnan! Tune in at youtube.com/live/6JI... #TBReaders
Our live-stream Q&A with #PhantomPlague author Vidya Krishnan is TOMORROW at 11am ET/8am PT! Tune in at youtube.com/live/6JI... to hear your questions answered! #TBReaders
"Phantom Plague: Chapter 13 Discussion Question. What similarities exist between the Tuskegee Syphilis experiment and the modern “clinical deserts" that Krishnan describes?" Cover of Phantom Plague by Vidya Krishnan. TBReaders Book Club logo. tbfighters.org/book-club
Ch 13 of #PhantomPlague shows how the Tuskegee Syphilis experiment targeted the vulnerable, causing greater suffering and spread of disease. Researchers ensured the participants' suffering continued through denial of care to the benefit of understanding untreated syphilis. #TBReaders
Join us this Friday, July 18th, for our #PhantomPlague Q&A with Vidya Krishnan at 11am ET/8am PT. Don't forget to vote for your favorite questions in the #TBReaders discord! youtube.com/live/6JI...
A picture of Vidya Krishnan and her book cover, Phantom Plague. "LIVE Q&A. FRIDAY JULY 18TH 11AM EDT. VIDYA KRISHNAN"
Get ready for a #TBReaders Q&A! We'll be talking with #PhantomPlague author, Vidya Krishnan, a week from today on Fri July 18, 11am ET/8am PT. Head to the TBReaders discord to submit your questions: tbfighter.link/tbrea...
"Phantom Plague: Chapter 11 Discussion Question. How does involving TB/HIV patients in advocacy and education change patient outcomes long term? How might it influence public health policy?" Cover of Phantom Plague by Vidya Krishnan. TBReaders Book Club logo. tbfighters.org/book-club
The benefits of giving a patient the megaphone don't stop with one patient. What other good do we see come from involving patients in advocacy and education in Chapter 11 of #PhantomPlague ? #TBReaders
"Phantom Plague: Chapter 11 Discussion Question. How does who is at the negotiating table change the decisions that are made?" Cover of Phantom Plague by Vidya Krishnan. TBReaders Book Club logo. tbfighters.org/book-club
Many decisions about international patent law were made by those without lived experience. Chapter 11 of #PhantomPlague recounts who does and does not have a seat at those tables and questions whether the same decisions would have been reached if doctors or patients had been in the room. #TBReaders
"Phantom Plague: Chapter 10 Discussion Question. How has an unequal relationship between countries continued? How do we see its effects today?" Cover of Phantom Plague by Vidya Krishnan. TBReaders Book Club logo. tbfighters.org/book-club
As independence movements spread, new countries maintained colonial-era copyright laws because they were vulnerable and had to maintain relations with the colonizers. Chapter 10 of #PhantomPlague talks about the detrimental effects this causes. #TBReaders
"Phantom Plague: Chapter 9 Discussion Question. How would a better public understanding of the price of manufacturing drugs change the outcomes for patients?" Cover of Phantom Plague by Vidya Krishnan. TBReaders Book Club logo. tbfighters.org/book-club
Pharmaceutical markets prioritize profit, not creation and distribution of critical medicines, as Chapter 9 of #PhantomPlague discusses. While there must be incentive to innovate new treatments, those treatments must be accessible to more than the very wealthy. #TBReaders
"Phantom Plague: Chapter 9 Discussion Question. How has the free market failed to bring down prices and increase availability of medicine?" Cover of Phantom Plague by Vidya Krishnan. TBReaders Book Club logo. tbfighters.org/book-club
Chapter 9 of #PhantomPlague talks about access to medications, and how cost can prevent that access. When it comes to lifesaving medicine, price gouging can become a moral issue. #TBReaders
Phantom Plague: Chapter 8 Discussion Question. How can we shrink the empathy gap between those who are sick and those who are not?" Cover of Phantom Plague by Vidya Krishnan. TBReaders Book Club logo. tbfighters.org/book-club
Chapter 8 of #PhantomPlague shows us that people often try to make victims of disease into a different class of people, dissociating themselves from the sick. #TBReaders
"Phantom Plague: Chapter 8 Discussion Question. How can we, as members of the community, use our voices to draw attention to the needs of minority communities?" Cover of Phantom Plague by Vidya Krishnan. TBReaders Book Club logo. tbfighters.org/book-club
In the US, people mostly ignored the AIDS problem because it largely affected gay men. As Chapter 8 of #PhantomPlague explained, it wasn’t until less marginalized communities started to get sick that people paid attention. #TBReaders
"Phantom Plague: Chapter 7 Discussion Question. What other problems in this book may be solvable through advocacy?" Cover of Phantom Plague by Vidya Krishnan. TBReaders Book Club logo. tbfighters.org/book-club
Chapter 7 of #PhantomPlague talks about J&J’s bedaquiline patent. After this book was published, #TBFighters joined long time TB advocates to fight to keep J&J from extending its secondary patent, which has resulted in access to generics and a 54% price reduction! #TBReaders
"Phantom Plague: Chapter 7 Discussion Question. What could we do to remove the necessity of suffering from the quest for effective health care?" Cover of Phantom Plague by Vidya Krishnan. TBReaders Book Club logo. tbfighters.org/book-club
Chapter 7 of #PhantomPlague shows us that even though Shreya Tripathi knew it might be too late for her, she still took her case to court, fighting the government for the medicine she deserved. #TBReaders
"Phantom Plague: Chapter 6 Discussion Question. Why does compassion matter? What aspects of care, other than sound medical practice, may influence a patient’s decision to seek or continue treatment? " Cover of Phantom Plague by Vidya Krishnan. TBReaders Book Club logo. tbfighters.org/book-club
As Chapter 6 of #PhantomPlague shows us, many government run hospitals sacrifice compassion in order to stay afloat because they are underfunded, overworked, and understaffed. #TBReaders
"Phantom Plague: Chapter 6 Discussion Question. Why does TB fail to get the level of attention that other diseases attract? How can we bring the level of attention to tuberculosis that other diseases receive?" Cover of Phantom Plague by Vidya Krishnan. TBReaders Book Club logo. tbfighters.org/book-club
The bubonic plague, which killed 50 million people in the 14th century, often gets more attention than tuberculosis does. Yet, as Chapter 6 of #PhantomPlague shows us, TB takes that many lives in just three decades. #TBReaders
"Phantom Plague: Chapter 5 Discussion Question. How might a more respectful and compassionate approach to housing make a difference for the public health and individual health outcomes?" Cover of Phantom Plague by Vidya Krishnan. TBReaders Book Club logo. tbfighters.org/book-club
Chapter 5 of #PhantomPlague tells how slum redevelopment in India had the opposite effect it intended, creating the perfect breeding conditions for TB. How do housing policies in Mumbai affect patient outcomes? #TBReaders
"Phantom Plague: Chapter 5 Discussion Question. What can be done to reduce the barriers that prevent people from accessing the treatment that is available to them?" Cover of Phantom Plague by Vidya Krishnan. TBReaders Book Club logo. tbfighters.org/book-club
In Chapter 5 of #PhantomPlague , TB treatment is described as being just as hard on a person’s body as chemotherapy is for a cancer patient. Many patients must travel to a health worker who observes them swallow eight to twenty pills every day for six months or more. #TBReaders
"Phantom Plague: Chapter 4 Discussion Question. How can we reckon with people who have done both good and harm in the space of public health?" Cover of Phantom Plague by Vidya Krishnan. TBReaders Book Club logo. tbfighters.org/book-club
Robert Koch revolutionized medicine in many ways, including discovering the agents for cholera, TB, and anthrax. Still, Chapter 4 of #PhantomPlague shows he rushed his "remedy" for #Tuberculosis and many people died before Arthur Conan Doyle worked out the truth. #TBReaders
"Phantom Plague: Chapter 3 Discussion Question. It's tempting to demand that the groups in power simply stop their harmful behaviors, but what other solutions might work?" Cover of Phantom Plague by Vidya Krishnan. TBReaders Book Club logo. tbfighters.org/book-club
A variety of measures were taken to persuade men not to spit. Neither public shaming, fines, arrest, or informational campaigns made a difference. Chapter 3 of #PhantomPlague explains that what finally made a difference was providing a safe and convenient alternative. #TBReaders
"Phantom Plague: Chapter 2 Discussion Question. What can we learn from this chapter about dealing with science denialism and poor adoption of proven public health measures?" Cover of Phantom Plague by Vidya Krishnan. TBReaders Book Club logo. tbfighters.org/book-club
Chapter 2 of #PhantomPlague tells of Doctor Semmelweis's clear, provable results in lowering TB death rates by implementing basic sanitizing procedures, but people did not listen to him. What did you take away from this chapter? #TBReaders
"Phantom Plague: Chapter 1 Discussion Question. What other beliefs and superstitions can be traced back to TB in your culture?" Cover of Phantom Plague by Vidya Krishnan. TBReaders Book Club logo. tbfighters.org/book-club
Chapter 1 of #PhantomPlague talks about Dracula, the literary classic inspired by infectious disease and the real world "New England Vampire Panic". Can you think of other beliefs or superstitions that can be traced back to tuberculosis? #TBReaders
"Phantom Plague: Introduction Discussion Question. What's something you have learned about the story of tuberculosis that surprises you?" Cover of Phantom Plague by Vidya Krishnan. TBReaders Book Club logo. tbfighters.org/book-club
The introduction of #PhantomPlague shares a bleak outlook on #AntibioticResistance and tuberculosis that challenges the story we know of medicine advancing and triumphing over pathogens. What else have you learned that's surprising about TB? #TBReaders
Author Vidya Krishnan posing with a fan (John Green)
#EITB is only the beginning of our global health education! Next, we'll be reading #PhantomPlague by @VidyaKrishnan.bsky.social, a global health reporter who works and lives in India. Phantom Plague remembers Shreya Tripathi's story, as well as the global systems that cost her life. #TBReaders
