Health Beyond the Blog: Caitlin Rivers’ “Crisis Averted”

Caitlin Rivers, PhD tells the stories of unsung public health heroes in her new book.

by Stephanie Oehler

Epidemiologists work tirelessly to prevent infectious disease outbreaks from worsening, but their efforts rarely garner attention from the public unless an outbreak escalates. 

Caitlin Rivers, one of these public health heroes, highlights the behind-the-scenes stories of public health initiatives in her new book Crisis Averted: The Hidden Science of Fighting Outbreaks, published in October 2024. Rivers discussed the importance of strong leadership and adequate public health resources in the latest Health Storytelling series with Maryn McKenna on January 29.

Rivers is an associate professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and a founding member of the Center for Forecasting and Outbreak Analytics at the CDC. She was inspired by serving as a science communicator during the COVID-19 pandemic to share the underappreciated stories of other public health workers.

One of the most interesting insights in the book is a concept known as the “cycle of panic and neglect”, as described through the story of the adenovirus vaccine. Adenovirus used to derail entire basic training classes of new military recruits. These outbreaks were so disruptive that the Department of Defense invested in rapidly developing a vaccine. The vaccine reduced adenovirus cases so greatly that it eventually led to complacency. Adenovirus infections were no longer viewed as a threat, and the DOD pulled away funding from vaccine production, resulting in a resurgence of adenovirus cases, resulting in eight deaths. 

Rivers describes this pattern as a frequent issue in public health: government officials panic due to a public health threat, find a solution, and then cut funding once the threat is under control. Preventing outbreaks, however, requires continuous efforts rather than temporary solutions. 

Public health successes are often invisible to the public. As such, the book also tackles topics such as the eradication of smallpox, the battle against mosquito-borne illnesses in the Florida Keys, the role of PEPFAR in addressing HIV/AIDS, and the 2003 SARS outbreak. Public health storytelling is necessary not only to celebrate the hidden accomplishments of public health officials over the years but also to ensure that we are prepared for future outbreaks. 

The Health Storytelling Author Q&A series continues at 7pm on February 26th with pediatrician and infectious disease specialist Dr. Adam Ratner discussing his new book, Booster Shots: The Urgent Lessons of Measles and the Uncertain Future of Children’s Health. To attend that and future events, RSVP here.

Crisis Averted: The Hidden Science of Fighting Outbreaks is available on Amazon.