Microterrors: The Complete Guide to Bacterial, Viral and Fungal Infections that Threaten Our Health - Hardcover

Hart MBBS BSc PhD FRCPCH FRCPath, Pro Tony

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1552979717 ISBN 13: 9781552979716

Publisher: Firefly Books, 2004

Synopsis

The hidden dangers surrounding us.

Despite the confident strides of modern science, the threat of deadly unseen organisms such as viruses, bacteria and fungi still grip the imagination with their ferocious intensity.

For instance, resistant strains of bacteria can now survive the strongest antibiotics and deadly new biological weapons are being cooked up in laboratories worldwide.

Microterrors explores these threats as well as humanity's greatest living rivals that have been on the planet far longer than we have.

The introduction covers terms, definitions and a brief natural history, including the role of viruses in human evolution, as well as bioengineering and biological weapons. Microterrors then presents the truly terrifying rogues' gallery of invisible killers.

Dramatic life-like digital illustrations and computer-colored electron images provide mug book profiles of hundreds of naturally occurring and bioengineered microterrors, including:

• Ebola, bubonic plague, cholera, malaria
• Bacteria: pneumonia, anthrax, botulism
• Viruses: HIV, hepatitis, common cold
• Fungi and blood and tissue diseases.

Each entry includes concise facts such as date of discovery and place of origin, period of incubation, symptoms and length of suffering, likelihood of death, treatments, vaccines and cures.

About this title

From the Author:

Microterrors are wreaking havoc all around us every day of our lives. AIDS is caused by a microterror and so too are SARS and vCJD, and a host of other diseases that don't make the news so readily. And yet we can't see them, and we really only know they are there when they strike us down, usually when we least expect it and are least able to cope. This book takes some of the real killers and some of the more benign microbes and shows what they look like down a microscope. All the photographs have been false colored to increase the dramatic effect and enhance their inherent interest. These are images that generally are only seen by microbiologists, pathologists, and researchers.

In addition to showing what they look like, the book provides information on how these organisms spread, how we first became aware of them, and whether vaccination or treatment is possible. It uses a medical microbiologist's knowledge and experience to bring fascinating information to a lay readership. Anyone interested in health and disease, medicine and current affairs will find a wealth of facts and figures, historical record and future speculation, about the tiny organisms with which we share our world and which have the potential to harm us.

About the Author:

Charles Hart, MBBS, BSc, PhD, FRCPCH, FRCPath is one of the world's leading experts on medical microbiology. He is the author of many articles and books.

About this edition

• Publisher: Firefly Books
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 1552979717
• ISBN 13: 9781552979716
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 192