Man and Microbes - Hardcover

Karlen, Arno

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0874777593 ISBN 13: 9780874777598

Publisher: Tarcher, 1995

Synopsis

A dramatic panorama of the natural history of disease draws on case studies, stories of medical detection, and recent research to explain the origins of modern epidemics and suggest methods to surmount growing public health crises in a global society.

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Reviews

YA?A very readable history of communicable diseases. Karlen thinks that, because Americans have been living in a dream world regarding the possibilities of wide-spread illness, our public health will almost inevitably be severely tested. The chapter on AIDS and other STDs, their mutations, increases, and increasing frequency alone gives one pause. For a book in which plagues and epidemics are featured in chronological order, the author does an excellent job of breaking up the recitation by placing them in the context of their times; for instance, the plague of Justinian, which began in the 6th century and lasted over 200 years (cutting the population of Europe in half), opened the way for invasions, virtually ended city life, and led to a long period of recuperation known as the Dark Ages. Only very recently have epidemics and pandemics ceased to be major players in the historical movements of the world's great civilizations. Karlen's explanation of their important role in history adds breadth to readers' knowledge of the past. An excellent research source.?Judy McAloon, Potomac Library, Prince William Public Library System VA
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Karlen (Napoleon's Glands) has produced a disturbing, succinct, compelling report on the current global crisis of new and resurgent diseases. Covering cholera, leprosy, cancer, AIDS, viral encephalitis, lethal Ebola fever, streptococcal "flesh-eating" infections and a host of other killers, he shows how the present wave of diseases arose with drastic environmental change, wars, acceleration of travel, the breakdown of public health measures, and microbial adaptation. In the book's first half, he entertainingly charts humanity's relationship with microbes, from the earliest hominids' probable encounters with bubonic plague to hunter-gatherers' comparative good health, the explosion of sickness in Bronze Age cities and the spread of infections with trade, conquest and empire. Karlen concludes that today's epidemics are part of an ancient pattern-whenever people make radical changes in their lifestyle and environment, disease flourishes. He suggests that improved surveillance could help defuse the crisis we face now.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Writing the story of diseases, plagues, epidemics, and pandemics from prehistory to modern times, Karlen concludes that "There is cause for alarm, but not despair." In lively but fact-filled style, he at first shows what conclusions can be drawn about illness in the past from skeletal remains, then proceeds to early written reports of epidemics, equating their terms, when justified, with modern ones for particular diseases and distinguishing the different meanings some had at various times (e.g., he points out the denotations of leprosy in different historical periods). He also relates the spread of disease to political and social contexts, and he stresses evolutionary changes in the burdens of disease. Reaching modern times, Karlen puzzles over how few have any knowledge or understanding of the terrible influenza epidemic at the end of World War I. We all must learn from past epidemics, he says, to address present and future health challenges with regulations and approaches freed from political and chauvinistic pressures. William Beatty

Karlen, author of Napoleon's Glands and Other Adventures in Biohistory (LJ 8/84), focuses his attention on infectious diseases throughout history, from ancient hunter- gatherers through some of the latest headline news. Karlen provides us with both a "prequel" to Laurie Garrett's The Coming Plague (LJ 9/15/94) as well as a valuable update of William H. McNeil's classic Plagues and Peoples (LJ 9/15/76). Outbreaks of new diseases, including terrifying hemorrhagic fevers lilke Ebola and Marburg viruses, and resurgent drug-resistant strains of historic killers such as tuberculosis and malaria have confounded post-World War II complacency about the end of epidemics. As Karlen points out, changes in the physical environment, technology, and lifestyle provide new opportunities for viruses and bacteria to exploit. Diseases are an inescapable part of the earth's ecology, as tenacious and adaptable as the human hosts they threaten. A fascinating and cautionary tale, Man and Microbes is recommended for most libraries.?Kathy Arsenault, Univ. of South Florida-St. Petersburg Lib.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Tarcher
• Publication date: 1995
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0874777593
• ISBN 13: 9780874777598
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 248