Secret Agents

Secret Agents
By:Madeline Drexler
Published on 2002-02-06 by Joseph Henry Press

So you think modern medicine has the whole virus game figured out? Think again. And it\u0092s not even a question of \u0093if\u0094 we\u0092ll be hit by some new and deadly disease\u0097it\u0092s \u0093when.\u0094 The war on germs is being fought on many fronts\u0097from the skirmishes with disease-carrying mosquitoes that cross oceans hidden away in airline wheel wells to the high-profile battle against terrorists wielding deadly bioweapons. Today\u0092s bold headlines would have us believe that the biggest threat comes from bioterrorism. But don\u0092t underestimate Mother Nature, perhaps the most savage bioterrorist of all. Assisted by the increasing ease with which people\u0097and the germs they carry\u0097move across international borders, she\u0092s an effective force to be reckoned with, a key player on this battlefield. As author Madeline Drexler makes clear, we\u0092d do best not to ignore her. Human beings and the pathogens that attack them are crossing paths more and more frequently, particularly as modern life grows increasingly complex. Whatever the infectious agent may be, whether it\u0092s pandemic flu, foodborne illness, a debilitating disease carried far and wide by biting insects, or some new microbial horror we have yet to detect, keen surveillance and rapid response are really the only weapons in our arsenal. Secret Agents looks at today\u0092s new and emerging infections\u0097those that have increased in attack rate or geographic range, or threaten to do so\u0097and tells the stories of scientists racing to catch up with invisible adversaries superior in both speed and guile. Each chapter focuses on a different threat: foodborne pathogens, antibiotic resistance, animals and insectborne diseases, pandemic influenza, infectious causes of chronic disease, and bioterrorism, including the latest information on the public health threats posed by anthrax and diseases such as smallpox. Based in part on material collected from the Forum on Emerging Infections hosted by the Institute of Medicine in Washington, D.C., Secret Agents is ultimately as engaging as it is disturbing. Drexler\u0092s thorough survey of the field of infectious disease, supplemented by extensive interviews with today\u0092s top researchers, yields a compelling portrait of a world engaged in a clandestine war. Emerging infections are among the many secret ties that bind the world into an organic whole. We know that infectious disease is an inescapable part of life, but we need to begin thinking globally and acting locally if we are to avoid the menace of a catastrophic outbreak of some new plague. Secret Agents sounds a clear and compelling call to take up arms against the organic predators among us.

This Book was ranked at 3 by Google Books for keyword virus x understanding the real threat of the new pandemic plagues.

Book ID of Secret Agents's Books is IE53AgAAQBAJ, Book which was written byMadeline Drexlerhave ETAG "bWCp8Vbc62U"

Book which was published by Joseph Henry Press since 2002-02-06 have ISBNs, ISBN 13 Code is 9780309510851 and ISBN 10 Code is 0309510856

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