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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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #333457 in Books
• Published on: 1996-05-02
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 768 pages

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

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Customer Reviews

a realistic portrayal of cowboy science
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.

The best horror story written, made from plain facts.
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!

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. If you have even a passing interest in medicine, you should read this.