The coming plague

Description

This is an amazing book that Laura Garrett wrote back in the 90's. For anyone that has read the more popular book by Richard Preston "The Hot Zone" this is a must read. It is a much tighter more informative book. She takes us through the history of viruses in a journalistic/story approach. She breaks down the emergence of Ebola and the other emerging viruses and what it could mean in a brilliantly entertaining way. Each new disease/chapter starts with a journalistic story and ends with an educated informative narrative. With the Ebola outbreak going on now in Western Africa I had to come and revisit this classic. She warned us and nailed it. Unpurified drinking water, improper use of antibiotics, local warfare, massive refugee migration have contributed to changing social and environmental conditions around the world. These have fostered the spread of new and potentially devastating viruses and diseases : HIV, Lassa, Ebola, and others. The author takes the reader on a fifty-year journey through the world's battles with microbes and examines the worldwide conditions that have culminated in recurrent outbreaks of newly discovered diseases, epidemics of diseases migrating to new areas, and mutated old diseases that are no longer curable.

Description

An exploration of the battle against microbes, based on research in virology, molecular biology, disease ecology, and medicine, examines the current outbreak of infectious diseases and outlines what can be done to prevent the coming plague.

Subjects

Other Editions

• The coming plague: newly emerging diseases in a world out of balanceFarrar, Straus and Giroux1994-01-01
• The coming plagueHardcoverFarrar, Straus and Giroux1994-01-01
• Coming PlagueFarrar, Straus & Giroux1994-01-01
• The coming plaguePenguin Books1995-01-01
• The coming plaguePenguin1995-01-01
• The Coming PlagueAudio CassetteBooks on Tape, Inc.1995-06-29