Emerging Epidemics: The Menace of New Infections

by Madeline Drexler

Book Overview

As timely as it is urgent, the well-researched book from veteran science journalist Madeline Drexler delivers a compelling report about today's most ominous infections disease threats. Focusing on a different danger in each chapter-from the looming risk of lethal influenza to in-depth information on the public health perils posed by bioterrorism-Drexler takes readers straight to the front lines, where scientists are racing to catch nearly invisible...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0143117173
• ISBN13: 9780143117179
• Release Date: December 2009
• Publisher: Penguin Books
• Length: 336 Pages
• Weight: 0.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.3" x 8.0"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

A very thoughtful and thought provoking read

As a neophyte in the understanding of bacteria and infectious desease I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Knowing how fine a line we walk in our symbiotic relationship with bacteria is as frightening as it is fascinating. I belive this book should be required reading in schools.

Bugs at Work

In "Secret Agents: The Menace of Emerging Infections," author Madeline Drexler takes us deep into the world of fast-moving microorganisms that can sicken people and end lives before doctors, hospitals or health agencies know what hit. Drexler shows "the bugs" at work in a well-chosen group of past and potential public health crises, including the West Nile virus's surprise hop across the Atlantic and the inevitable next influenza pandemic. With clarity and style, Drexler depicts in detail the characters in each drama: the amazingly adaptable bugs and the scientists and agency officials who must face them down. Meticulously researched, "Secret Agents" presents not only the scientific, but also the historic, political and economic contexts of approaching the seemingly intractable public health issues raised by the bugs. In the end, Drexler writes, such problems can only be addressed in a global context, in the interests of both rich and poor countries and the people who inhabit them. A fascinating read.

Best of the bunch.

I've read several other books on this same sort of topic, including the seminal work by Laurie Garrett, The Coming Plauge. This new entry into the category of books devoted to germs is a genuine winner. I couldn't put this one down. There's no doubt that this stuff is scary. After reading "Secret Agents" you kind of figure that you shouldn't eat, drink, breathe, or go on too many picnics where you might come into contact with disease carrying insects. But the bottom line is that these frightening facts are not the stuff of some novelist's imagination -- this stuff is true. Which makes it even more disturbing -- and compelling -- to read. Even though bioterrorism is much on everyone's mind these days, Drexler reminds us that most of the diseases that would be weaponized and used against us are the creation of good old Mother Nature. And She's perfectly capable of packing a wallop all on her own. The writing is sharp and crisp, the germ-hunting stories fascinating. I would recommend this to anyone who likes a good scientific detective story. If you enjoy it as much as I did, you'll end up finishing this in one sitting. P.S. Cool cover (catch that dead crow, the sentinel of doom that announces the presence of diseases like West Nile).

if you only read one book this year read this!

How can you not love a book that starts "Infection is an inescapable part of life. All creatures feast on other creatures and in turn are feasted upon, in a kind of Escheresque food chain."!! This is an amazing book that takes readers on a journey through the world of human encounters with "secret agents" of the micro-world: West Nile virus, food illnesses, resistant superbugs, flu, and, of course, bioterrorism.What I really liked about this book is that it is both a public health detective story, and a primer for the non-scientist on the shifting state of the "bugs and us" story. Drexler's writing is breathtaking, and you really feel as though you're right there in the labs and fields with the scientists and epidemiologists who are now -- especially now -- on the front lines of discovery and decisions about disease. This is a really smart book that's a must for anyone who's interested in the natural world, public health, scientific discovery, medical research. After 9/11, everyone's interested in bioterrorist weapons. Drexler puts the post-9/11 anthrax releases in context of military programs to develop super-bio-weapons .. and shows how the anthrax threat might be one of the biggest "blow-back" military threats yet.The last chapter, the author wraps up by making the case for the importance of global public health monitoring, cooperation, and she locates the role of disease and infection in contemporary geopolitics.This is hot off the press.. and hot! Easy to read, but packed with info. This book will open your eyes to the hidden "parallel-universe" world of microbes, bugs, viruses we travel with and through. Thoughtful, thought-provoking. A don't-miss read.

readable and riveting

Having been an avid follower for years of Madeline Drexler's medical writing in The Boston Globe, I was looking forward to this book. But it surpassed my expectations. This was such a pleasure to read (if you can call it `pleasure' to read about the terrifying creativity of life-threatening microbes) that I raced through it in just a few days. Every sentence is lucid and lively, and Drexler's dry sense of humor makes you laugh even while you're reading about how we coexist with a daunting number of viruses, microbes, bacteria, and all the rest. There's an endless parade of riveting stories in here: detective stories about public health gumshoes chasing down an outbreak; vignettes that I can only call `biographies' of various microbes, fascinating even for an English major like me; stories of close combat between researchers and infections, of public health turf battles, of scientists' odd insights and obsessions, and much more. The amount of research that's poured into here is just unbelievable, revealing the seamy underworld of infection that we all live with daily-making this far more unnerving (not to mention better written) than a Stephen King novel. Readable and riveting, not to be missed.