Grand Valley State University

The coming plague, newly emerging diseases in a world out of balance, Laurie Garrett

eng

Includes bibliographical references (pages 623-727) and index

The coming plague

33201617

Laurie Garrett

newly emerging diseases in a world out of balance

Unpurified drinking water. Improper use of antibiotics. Local warfare. Massive refugee migration. Changing social and environmental conditions around the world have fostered the spread of new and potentially devastating viruses and diseases -- HIV, Lassa, Ebola, and others. Laurie Garrett takes you on a fifty-year journey through the world's battles with microbes and examines the worldwide conditions that have culminated in recurrent outbreaks of newly discovered diseases, epidemics of diseases migrating to new areas, and mutated old diseases that are no longer curable. She argues that it is not too late to take action to prevent the further onslaught of viruses and microbes, and offers possible solutions for a healthier future

Machupo: Bolivian hemorragic fever -- Health transition: The age of optimism, setting out to eradicate disease -- Monkey kidneys and the ebbing tides: Marburg virus, yellow fever, and the Brazilian meningitis epidemic -- Into the woods: Lassa fever -- Yambuku: Ebola -- The American bicentennial: Swine flu and Legionnaires' Disease -- N'zara: Lassa, ebola, and the developing world's economic and social policies -- Revolution: Genetic engineering and the discovery of oncogenes -- Microbe magnets: Urban centers of disease -- Distant thunder: Sexually transmitted diseases and injecting drug users -- Hatari: Vinidogodogo (Danger: A very little thing): The origins of AIDS -- Feminine hygiene (As debated, mostly, by men): Toxic shock syndrome -- The revenge of the germs, or just keep inventing new drugs: Drug-resistant bacteria, viruses, and parasites -- Thirdworldization: The interactions of poverty, poor housing, and social despair with disease -- All in good haste: Hantaviruses in America -- Nature and homo sapiens: Seal plague, cholera, global warming, biodiversity, and the microbial soup -- Searching for solutions: Preparedness, surveillance, and the new understanding