The Killers Within: The Deadly Rise of Drug Resistant Bacteria

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.

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."