A Thorn in the Starfish: How the Human Immune System Works - Hardcover

Desowitz, Robert S.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0393024350 ISBN 13: 9780393024357

Publisher: W W Norton & Co Inc, 1987

Synopsis

Traces the history of disease control, discusses inoculations, antigens, antibodies, T cells, and AIDS, and looks at what happens when the human body gets sick

About this title

About the Author:

Robert S. Desowitz, a leading epidemiologist, is the author of New Guinea Tape Worms and Jewish Grandmothers and The Malaria Capers, among other books. He lives in Pinehurst, North Carolina.

From Library Journal:

Desowitz, a professor at the University of Hawaii School of Medicine and the author of New Guinea Tapeworms and Jewish Grandmothers , here offers a highly readable discussion of the state of the art of immunology, with an eye to the future. He gives some history of immunologic theory: e.g., Jenner and smallpox vaccine, and Metchnikoff, who determined that phagocytes "eat bacteria" as a thorn is absorbed by a starfish. He then discusses the dietary effects of selenium, zinc, and vitamins A and C on immunity; effects of smoking on the immune system; AIDs; and psychoimmunology. The scientific terminology is abundant but well explained in the text. Recommended for general readers. (Index not seen.) Jean E. Crampon, Hancock Marine Biology & Oceanography Lib., Univ. of Southern California, Los Angeles
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: W W Norton & Co Inc
• Publication date: 1987
• ISBN 10: 0393024350
• ISBN 13: 9780393024357
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 270