The Autumn Ghost: How the Battle Against a Polio Epidemic Revolutionized Modern Medical Care

For readers of Pale Rider comes a suspenseful account of how the battle against a mid-century polio epidemic sparked a worldwide revolution in medical care.

The appalling death toll of the COVID-19 pandemic would have been even higher were it not for mechanical ventilation and intensive care units. In The Autumn Ghost, Dr. Hannah Wunsch traces the origins of these two innovations back to a polio epidemic in 1952. Drawing together compelling testimony from doctors, nurses, medical students, and patients, Wunsch relates a gripping tale of an epidemic that changed the world.

In vivid, captivating chapters, Wunsch tells the dramatic 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.

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