- Paperback: 768 pages
- Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd; New edition edition (2 May 1996)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0140250913
- ISBN-13: 978-0140250916
- Product Dimensions: 23 x 15.2 x 4.2 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
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Amazon Bestsellers Rank:
335,429 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #56 in Books > Science & Nature > Medicine > Medical Sciences A-Z > Pathology > Microbiology & Virology
- #96 in Books > Science & Nature > Medicine > Diseases & Disorders > Infectious & Contagious Diseases
- See Complete Table of Contents
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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
Where's your next disease coming from? From anywhere in the world--from overflowing sewage in Cairo, from a war zone in Rwanda, from an energy-efficient office building in California, from a pig farm in China or North Carolina. "Preparedness demands understanding" writes Pulitzer-winning journalist Laurie Garrett, and in this precursor to Betrayal of Trust: The Collapse of Global Public Health she shows true understanding of the patterns lying beneath the new diseases in the headlines (AIDS, Lyme) and the old ones resurgent (tuberculosis, cholera). As the human population explodes, ecologies collapse and simplify, and disease organisms move into the gaps. As globalisation continues, diseases can move from one country to another as fast as an aeroplane can fly.
While the human race battles itself... the advantage moves to the microbes' court. They are our predators and they will be victorious if we, Homo sapiens, do not learn how to live in a rational global village that affords the microbes few opportunities.Her picture is not entirely bleak: epidemics grow when a disease outbreak is amplified--by contaminated water supplies, by shared needles, by recirculated air, by prostitution--and controlling disease amplifiers is within our power, a matter of money, people and will. --Mary Ellen Curtin
Product Description
As the global village becomes smaller, as destruction of the rainforests continues, and as bacteria increasingly develop resistance to overused antibiotics, the threat of new diseases, of which AIDS is potentially only the first, becomes ever greater. This book explores the world of new diseases - from AIDS to Toxic Shock Syndrome, Legionnaire's Disease, Ebola (the "Hot Zone" virus) and others - and the over-crowded world we have created that makes these diseases, and their spread, possible.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Having worked with and met several of the scientists portrayed in this book, I have to say that it is the best recount of scientific endeavor I have ever read. It is a sober and cogent account of what any doctor worth the paper their degree is printed on knows--viruses and bugs mutate, and there is always a lag time between what we fall prey to and what we can cure. Her accounts of African plagues and domestic epidemics are both history and warning, and we should put aside labels like "liberal" and "anti-male" (the one irrelevant and the other ridiculous) to focus on the frightening prospect of a new black death, or a mutated HIV virus that spreads by airborne pathogen. It is absolutely possible, and no one should pass up the chance to read this book and inform themselves of the risks they and their children face.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Laurie Garrett has penned a striking compilation of just a few of the incredible number of infectious diseases that stand at the ready to strike down humankind the moment that we let our guard down. Earlier this century, medicine and science declared the infectious diseases beaten and abandoned work on them in favor of chronic conditions such as cancer. As a result, we now have the AIDS pandemic, hemmorhagic fever diseases throughout the world, etc. Ms. Garrett sounds a warning that can be understand and heeded by both the layman and the trained scientist. I credit her with my decision to pursue a career in public health.
6 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I stumbled upon this book while buying books for my biochemist studies. After finishing this book I had to look on my studies from a whole new perspective. Garrett confirms the worst fears I had about this worlds dealing with diseases, presented like short stories and intelligent points. Read it, be scared, but also a whole lot wiser!
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Poor focus spoils tremendous research
The audience and purpose of this book is not clear. In part it acts as a detailed history of the fight against new types of harmful microbes. Read more
Published on 26 Aug 2003 by Mr. P. G. Cartwright
Brilliant!
I hold this book solely responsible for the fact I'm now doing a virology degree. It is well-researched, accesible, and painfully prophetic. Read more
Published on 6 Jun 2001 by uzz@totalise.co.uk
One of the best books i have ever read!
From the opening chapter this book takes you on a roller-coaster ride the leaves you frightened and exhilirated at the same time! Read more
Published on 24 Feb 2000
A very well researched book.
The author has tackled a very complicated and profound topic with relative ease. The sociological and environmental factors that may contribute each disease have been described... Read more
Published on 22 April 1998
Riviting, informative, very readable for non medicals
This book clears up all the mininformaion coming at us as we discover new plagues. It starts with a history of plagues like the Black Death, the world wide flus and goes on to... Read more
Published on 30 Sep 1997
This book is very imformative and easy to read!!
If you have ever been interested in learning about virues of all kinds this is a great starter book. It is very easy to read without a lot of medical terms. Read more
Published on 16 April 1997
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