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The Power of Plagues
Media Watch
Book The Power of Plagues
The Power of Plagues Irwin W Sherman ASM Press, 2006 $39.95, 442pp ISBN 1 55581 356 9
696
Parasites are everywhere. On a macroscopic level, Homo sapiens is the ultimate parasite: its actions (and inactions) have put the entire planet at risk. We are responsible for poisoning the atmosphere, the lakes and rivers, and even the oceans. As we disrupt the local and global ecology, we place the entire system into a state of disequilibrium. Other species have permanently disappeared as a direct result of our actions. Even though we are over 6 billion strong, we remain subject to the vagaries of the microscopic world as they reorganise to fill niches we have made. By many orders of magnitude, we are outnumbered and outgunned by viruses, bacteria, and other pathogenic microorganisms. The historical record is replete with instances of microbes causing human suffering. The extent of the effects have depended on geography, climate, the state of the hosts, population density, culture, medical knowledge available, and other, more subtle, factors. At any time and any place, we could reach a bifurcation point in the dynamics of our population that could lay waste to thousands or even millions of us. It has happened many times before and it will happen again. The power of plagues weaves a series of narratives that explain many of the large and small ripples in the historical interface between human beings and microbes. Here we have an accomplished biologist who has given the subject a well-written push beyond what we currently have available. Irwin Sherman brings a vast knowledge of history, culture, medicine, and microbiology to bear, resulting in an engrossing tale. Details abound. The many actors that are woven into this vast tapestry are fleshed out so they are an integral human part of the tale. All the usual disease suspects are here: the Black Death, AIDS, typhus, malaria, cholera, smallpox, syphilis, tuberculosis, leprosy, and others, somewhat lesser known. For each of these plagues Sherman presents a history of the disease, a history of the accumulating epidemiological evidence that determined its causative agent, modes of transmission as claimed then and now, historical and current treatments, and attempts at its control. The advance of the attack of science against the microbes is delineated and cases where the powers-that-were managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory are made clear—again and again. This book is a fascinating read, as reflected in this small excerpt: ”The ‘best’ surgeons were speed artists. Indeed, one of the most famous was the London surgeon Robert Liston (1794–1847). Liston removed a 45-lb
scrotal tumor in 4 minutes, but in his enthusiasm he cut off the patient’s testicles as well. He amputated a leg in 2·5 minutes, but the patient died shortly thereafter from gangrene (as was often the case in those days); during the same operation, he amputated the fingers of his young assistant, who also died of gangrene, and he slashed the coat tails of a distinguished surgical spectator, who was so terrified that the knife had pierced his vital organs that he dropped dead of fright. So ended the only operation in history with 300% mortality!” Although not all asides contain such levity, they all inform, instruct, and fulfil the reader. Even though not aimed at a highly sophisticated audience, technical aspects are not shunned; rather they are sought out and carefully explained. For example: the Trager-Jensen method of tissue culture, differences between the two phage-infected vibrios and why oral rehydration therapy still works, the Duffy factor and Plasmodium vivax, the pre- and post-Columbian theories of the origin of syphilis, the copepod cyclops and its role in the transmission of Guinea worm, the effect of BCG and Leprovac vaccinations on leprosy patients, and the list goes on. The scope of the material here is wider, without being overpowering, than most books on the subject at this level. Even the major deficiency diseases pellagra, scurvy, beri-beri, and rickets merit a full and complete chapter. As with all books that are nearly encyclopedic in nature, we are left wanting more—much more. 400 pages are not enough. The Spanish influenza pandemic is left to four of the last five pages of the last chapter. In some of the coverage, the detail is a tad uneven; the discovery and isolation of HIV is relegated to two sentences, despite the controversy and associated charges, counter-charges, and legal battles concerning the credit for priority of the discovery of the virus. On the other hand, there is a half-page devoted to Haffkine’s 1897 vaccine for plague and its effect on his career. I recommend readings chapters 1, 2, 10, and 11 in that order and reading the other 13 at one’s leisure. Admirable though this flexibility is, it leads to some redundancy. Nevertheless, this is an exceptional book that is at once entertaining and informative. It is clearly a multi-year labour of love of the subject—and it shows in every section of every chapter. I will regularly refer this book to friends and students.
Paul Bugl [email protected]
http://infection.thelancet.com Vol 6 November 2006
Book The Power of Plagues
The Power of Plagues Irwin W Sherman ASM Press, 2006 $39.95, 442pp ISBN 1 55581 356 9
696
Parasites are everywhere. On a macroscopic level, Homo sapiens is the ultimate parasite: its actions (and inactions) have put the entire planet at risk. We are responsible for poisoning the atmosphere, the lakes and rivers, and even the oceans. As we disrupt the local and global ecology, we place the entire system into a state of disequilibrium. Other species have permanently disappeared as a direct result of our actions. Even though we are over 6 billion strong, we remain subject to the vagaries of the microscopic world as they reorganise to fill niches we have made. By many orders of magnitude, we are outnumbered and outgunned by viruses, bacteria, and other pathogenic microorganisms. The historical record is replete with instances of microbes causing human suffering. The extent of the effects have depended on geography, climate, the state of the hosts, population density, culture, medical knowledge available, and other, more subtle, factors. At any time and any place, we could reach a bifurcation point in the dynamics of our population that could lay waste to thousands or even millions of us. It has happened many times before and it will happen again. The power of plagues weaves a series of narratives that explain many of the large and small ripples in the historical interface between human beings and microbes. Here we have an accomplished biologist who has given the subject a well-written push beyond what we currently have available. Irwin Sherman brings a vast knowledge of history, culture, medicine, and microbiology to bear, resulting in an engrossing tale. Details abound. The many actors that are woven into this vast tapestry are fleshed out so they are an integral human part of the tale. All the usual disease suspects are here: the Black Death, AIDS, typhus, malaria, cholera, smallpox, syphilis, tuberculosis, leprosy, and others, somewhat lesser known. For each of these plagues Sherman presents a history of the disease, a history of the accumulating epidemiological evidence that determined its causative agent, modes of transmission as claimed then and now, historical and current treatments, and attempts at its control. The advance of the attack of science against the microbes is delineated and cases where the powers-that-were managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory are made clear—again and again. This book is a fascinating read, as reflected in this small excerpt: ”The ‘best’ surgeons were speed artists. Indeed, one of the most famous was the London surgeon Robert Liston (1794–1847). Liston removed a 45-lb
scrotal tumor in 4 minutes, but in his enthusiasm he cut off the patient’s testicles as well. He amputated a leg in 2·5 minutes, but the patient died shortly thereafter from gangrene (as was often the case in those days); during the same operation, he amputated the fingers of his young assistant, who also died of gangrene, and he slashed the coat tails of a distinguished surgical spectator, who was so terrified that the knife had pierced his vital organs that he dropped dead of fright. So ended the only operation in history with 300% mortality!” Although not all asides contain such levity, they all inform, instruct, and fulfil the reader. Even though not aimed at a highly sophisticated audience, technical aspects are not shunned; rather they are sought out and carefully explained. For example: the Trager-Jensen method of tissue culture, differences between the two phage-infected vibrios and why oral rehydration therapy still works, the Duffy factor and Plasmodium vivax, the pre- and post-Columbian theories of the origin of syphilis, the copepod cyclops and its role in the transmission of Guinea worm, the effect of BCG and Leprovac vaccinations on leprosy patients, and the list goes on. The scope of the material here is wider, without being overpowering, than most books on the subject at this level. Even the major deficiency diseases pellagra, scurvy, beri-beri, and rickets merit a full and complete chapter. As with all books that are nearly encyclopedic in nature, we are left wanting more—much more. 400 pages are not enough. The Spanish influenza pandemic is left to four of the last five pages of the last chapter. In some of the coverage, the detail is a tad uneven; the discovery and isolation of HIV is relegated to two sentences, despite the controversy and associated charges, counter-charges, and legal battles concerning the credit for priority of the discovery of the virus. On the other hand, there is a half-page devoted to Haffkine’s 1897 vaccine for plague and its effect on his career. I recommend readings chapters 1, 2, 10, and 11 in that order and reading the other 13 at one’s leisure. Admirable though this flexibility is, it leads to some redundancy. Nevertheless, this is an exceptional book that is at once entertaining and informative. It is clearly a multi-year labour of love of the subject—and it shows in every section of every chapter. I will regularly refer this book to friends and students.
Paul Bugl [email protected]
http://infection.thelancet.com Vol 6 November 2006