The Killers within: The Deadly Rise of Drug-Resistant Bacteria - Softcover

Shnayerson, Michael

Softcover

ISBN 10: 075153949X ISBN 13: 9780751539493

Publisher: Sphere, 2006

Synopsis

It wasn't too long ago that modern antibiotics seemed to have conquered bacteria. Threatening bacteria, doctors proclaimed, were on their way out.

Not exactly. In THE KILLERS WITHIN, Michael Shnayerson and Mark Plotkin reveal the terrifying truth: that bacteria have evolved, have outwitted doctors, and are now on the ascendancy. Quietly, a medical crisis has been brewing, as laboratories and doctors frantically race to develop new drugs and new means to combat bacteria that, via aggressive evolution, have zigged when medicine zagged. Bacteria that disintegrate your skin; bacteria that clog your lungs; bacteria that result in golf-ball-size abscesses-all these and more make appearances in THE KILLERS WITHIN.

We meet the scientists desperately racing to stay one step ahead. We learn the creepy science of how bacteria work, and why they may be winning. And we see how, ironically, we've created the problem by misusing antibiotics. A book that will be compared to Laurie Garrett's bestselling "The Coming Plague," THE KILLERS WITHIN is a horror story that just happens to be true.

About this title

About the Author:

Michael Shnayerson is a staff writer at "Vanity Fair" and the author of several books. He lives in New York. Mark Plotkin is one of the world's most renowned ethnobotanists. In 1998, "Time" declared him a "Hero for the Planet."

From Publishers Weekly:

Bacteria preceded human life by millions of years but will they also outlive us? Shnayerson, a staff writer at Vanity Fair magazine, and Plotkin, an ethnobotanist, paint an alarming picture of the crisis posed by antibiotic-resistant bacteria. They focus on the three most common types: enterococci, streptococci and staphylococci. They tell of the deadly S. aureus a particularly virulent strain of staph that has shown up in deadly resistant strains and the infamous "flesh-eating bacteria" (necrotizing fascitis), whose incidence has been on the rise. They explain the myriad factors that have contributed to antibiotic-resistant bacteria and disease, most important among them the overprescription and misuse of the drugs, including the antibiotics fed to livestock to promote growth. Sharing the latest research, the authors suggest that future antibiotics are in the most unlikely places, from shark-bellies and silkmoths to the saliva of the Indonesian Komodo dragon. Shnayerson and Plotkin write in a lively, journalistic style and spotlight many victims, microbiologists and other "faces" behind the statistics, going far to make the copious scientific information accessible to general readers (though some may still be daunted). Yet their alarmist tone may strike many readers as overly sensationalistic and grating. Moreover, many of the facts about antibiotics abuse and drug-resistant bacteria are simply old news, and this book may not drum up much interest in spite of its informative analysis.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Sphere
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 075153949X
• ISBN 13: 9780751539493
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 336