Overview

From the fall of empires to the rise of global health, Dr. Richard Burt’s Kill Switch reveals how viruses have shaped human history—and what we must learn to protect our future. Viruses are the invisible architects of life and human history. From ancient plagues to modern pandemics, they have shaped civilizations, altered wars, and redefined medicine. Kill Switch takes you on a riveting journey through the history of viral outbreaks, revealing how these microscopic invaders have influenced everything from who we are to the fall of empires to the rise of global health initiatives—and how they ultimately led to COVID-19. Written by renowned physician and scientist Dr. Richard Burt, this book provides a fascinating look at the intersection of science, history, and public health. Dr. Burt unpacks the story of viruses through gripping historical narratives, groundbreaking medical discoveries, and the critical lessons we must learn. In Kill Switch, you’ll learn: How viruses shaped human history and determined the rise and fall of empires. How viruses affect global policy and economics. The hidden connections between medical breakthroughs and disease. How governments, scientists, and the public have responded to viral threats. How history chauffeured us to where we are. How good intentions go wrong. Why COVID 19 is so controversial. With engaging storytelling and a cutting-edge detective story, Kill Switch is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand the power of viruses and their impact on our world. Are we doomed to repeat history, or can we adapt to safeguard our future?

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9781637634677

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Reviews

Kill Switch by Richard K. Burt, MD, is a thoroughly researched, scholarly history of the relationship between humans and viruses beginning with smallpox, several centuries ago, and ending with COVID-19. It is written for the general public, with scientific concepts explained in layman’s terms and copious historical background that is not typically available in routine sources. This book details the efforts of humanity to do battle with viruses over centuries, revealing the mistakes and subsequent corrections in the process of understanding viral etiology and the production of vaccines and antiviral drugs. Dr. Burt is an alumnus of the NIH, a leading physician-scientist in the field of bone-marrow transplantation, and a scholar of the highest integrity. This stunning book reveals the complexities of vaccine and drug production, as well as the good and poor decisions made by healthcare leadership up to the present day. It is truly a gift to the American people and should be read by everyone. —Miriam C Poirier, PhD, Scientist Emeritus, National Institutes of Health, National Cancer Institute, Laboratory of Cancer Biology and Genetics Professor Burt has been a national, award-winning leader in the development of new treatment of autoimmune disease using stem cell transplantation for decades. His inventive treatment paradigms have advanced an entire field to the great benefit of many patients. As such, he understands innovation from the physician-scientist’s point of view. This vantage allows Dr. Burt to guide your remarkable journey down a wandering path of insight, innovation, and discovery that leads to amazing and important breakthroughs in vaccines. His writing style is crisp and witty and engaging. Enjoy your journey! —Charles Link, MD, FACP, Executive Chairman of Syncromune, Inc. USA For me, Kill Switch was fascinating and hard to put down. Loaded with information on science, medicine, history, and politics, it is easy to read and well suited both for the medical professional and layperson alike. Well referenced and well written, Dr. Richard Burt presents the facts and allows you to draw your own conclusions as to whether the COVID-19 pandemic was indeed created in a Chinese lab with US taxpayer dollars.  —United States Congressman Dave Weldon, MD This book is written by a physician-scientist who pioneered novel advances using stem cells for autoimmune diseases. Using his honed bench to bedside skills, Dr. Burt transports us into the world of viruses. Remarkably close to us and even together with us, there is a unique and constantly changing microworld of viruses that has a dramatic impact on population health and influences economics, politics, and public policy. In his extraordinary monograph, Professor Burt performed sophisticated and comprehensive insight into interaction of viruses and human beings. It is a thought-provoking analysis about the benefits and harms of this interaction. Kill Switch is incredibly unique as it may be used both as an encyclopedia about biology of viruses, their evolution, and development of vaccines, as well the thoughtful story about the challenges of the past and present world. With no doubt, this monograph will be of interest to all those who are concerned about the future of mankind. —Professor Denis A. Fedorenko, MD, PhD, Pirogov’s National Medical Surgical Center, Moscow, Russia Kill Switch conceptualizes viruses and global pandemics with a renewed vigor and perspective. It transports the audience into the interplay between viruses and the immune system and how that affects us individually and as a worldwide community. Dr. Burt’s book offers a timely reminder of the devastating impact of past viral epidemics and underscores the importance of applying new insights—immunologic and otherwise—to mitigate future public health crises. Dr. Burt’s thoughtful examination of these events, as presented in this multifaceted book, has many aspects and depths to be grasped by different readers and with each new reading. It provides a valuable and accessible synthesis of lesions learned—and those yet to be fully understood. —Professor Shimon Slavin, MD, Scientific & Medical Director, Biotherapy International  The Center for Innovative Cancer Immunotherapy & Cellular Medicine, Tel Aviv, Israel Richard K. Burt’s Kill Switch exemplifies a passionate commitment to free speech, independent thought, and intellectual courage—qualities crucial in today’s scientific discourse. Dr. Burt challenges orthodox narratives, weaving detailed scientific explanations with significant historical events to enrich readers’ understanding. Although some conclusions are controversial and merit careful consideration, Kill Switch serves as an important conversation starter, inviting further inquiry and debate. As a complement to conventional scientific literature, this book offers a valuable dissenting voice that highlights the necessity of open intellectual dialogue. —Professor Joachim Burman, MD, PhD, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden Dr. Richard Burt’s pioneering work for over three decades has propelled science forward in the treatment of multiple diseases. I should know. Dr. Burt’s work on hematopoietic stem cell transplant in treating multiple sclerosis patients saved my own life in 2018. In Kill Switch, a doctor and world-famous researcher provides a factual, dispassionate, and illuminating telling of the history of disease discovery, research, and treatment, from COVID-19, to AIDS, to HPV, to yellow fever. Dr. Burt speaks from deep inside the medical and scientific world to the reader outside the medical and scientific world about both the most beneficial and most controversial historical moments of disease discovery and treatment—ones many magazines have been too afraid to cover. Dr. Burt never shields the reader from controversial facts, such as the FDA continues to allow the use of animal cells for vaccine production or that some study participants for disease have been intentionally left untreated to observe them and advance the interests of science. Dr. Burt doesn’t tell the reader how to interpret this information. He doesn’t think for the reader. He only gives the reader the knowledge, all the knowledge, so that we can think for ourselves. Here is a doctor who treats both the patient and the reader as his intellectual equal, one whom he believes has a right to know the truth about how disease treatments were discovered. All the truth. —Professor Sandra Didi, MA, University of Texas, Fellow for the Association for the Study of Middle East and Africa, Analyst for the US Military Dr. Burt is a pioneering researcher and doctor. At the beginning of the COVID pandemic, I was fortunate to meet him on a plane flight. He informed me of NIH funding virus gain of function research in Wuhan, China. The fear to say anything other than that of the White House and lay media narrative was so palpable that within my own department when I mentioned Dr. Burt’s information, I was warned not to repeat it. What went wrong in our society that even a chief of police would be made to fear asking honest questions? Over time, more information trickled out confirming what Dr. Burt had told me. In this book, only Dr. Burt can explain the history of science behind COVID and vaccines that leaves the reader with a logical and realistic understanding of what happened. There are many lifesaving lessons gained in this outstanding read. For people to have confidence in our institutions, we need people with integrity and courage to report the good and the bad. Enjoy your read, you will learn a lot that was not said. —Richard Smith, Chief of Police (retired), Kansas City, Missouri Dr. Richard Burt’s Kill Switch makes insightful and thought-provoking reading for anyone interested in learning about the role of viruses in shaping history throughout the ages, how governments have responded to their threats, and how scientists have managed to harness their power to the benefit of humanity. By wrapping history around science, it makes both topics interesting. A refreshingly honest book you cannot set down—worthy of a Pulitzer. —Professor Basil Sharrack, PhD, University of Sheffield, United Kingdom Kill Switch provides a highly readable history of viruses in human history. The book takes complicated scientific and medical ideas and translates them for the average reader. In telling this history, Dr. Burt makes unexpected cultural connections in the discovery of and treatment for different viruses, and when the book examines the origin of COVID-19, the story transforms into a medical thriller. —Associate Professor Tod Chambers, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, Illinois

Author Information

DR. RICHARD K. BURT is a Fulbright Scholar, CEO of Genani Biotechnology, a tenured retired Professor at Northwestern, and current Scripps faculty. He pioneered America’s first hematopoietic stem cell transplant for autoimmune diseases like multiple sclerosis and scleroderma. Dr Burt has seven United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) patents on using induced pluripotent stem (IPS) cells for aging and degenerative diseases. Dr. Burt was awarded Leukemia Scholar of America, the Lupus Foundation of America Fidelitas Award, the van Bekkum Award by the European Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation (EBMT), the Distinguished Clinical Achievement Award by the Clinical Research Forum, the EBMT Clinical Achievement Award, and the “Keys to the Vatican” in Rome. He has spoken at numerous conferences, universities, and institutions. Hospitals worldwide offer his stem cell protocols to patients. Dr. Burt was recognized by Science Illustrated for accomplishing one of the Top 10 medical breakthroughs and by Scientific American as one of the Top 50 individuals for improving humanity and outstanding leadership. Dr Burt has written 150 medical / science articles, four medical textbooks, and two lay books: Everyday Miracles and Kill Switch.

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