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The title of a book cannot be copyrighted, but anyone who chooses to use Microbe Hunters in any book title has either enormous chutzpah or vaunting ambition. The original Microbe Hunters, written by Paul de Kruif in 1927, probably did more to proselytize young minds into careers in medicine and science than any book ever written. (See Richard Rhodes intriguing tour of prion diseases: He begins with a young Nobel Laureate-to-be, Carlton Gajdusek, who, after reading de Kruif's chronicle, carves the names of Leeuwenhoek, Koch, Pasteur, and Walter Reed into the stairs leading to his childhood laboratory. 1) It is as if Koproski and Oldstone believe that an updated version of this classic work is needed to charge the minds of a newer generation of aspiring researchers. Do they succeed? Yes, I believe they do, and they have accomplished the task handsomely. I further believe that this is the book of the decade; it should be read not only by kids but also by anyone interested in past medical and scientific research and the most important contemporaneous infectious diseases, as well as provocative glimpses beyond the horizon.
The Hot Zone and The Coming Plague pale in comparison. There is something for everyone in this 456 -page book: insightful biographical sketches of pioneer microbe hunters first described by de Kruif 70 years ago; up-to-date clinical and experimental data; precious historical tidbits; carefully selected maps, charts, graphs, tables, and photographs; and a colorful spectrum of infections covering most historical diseases and the newer, emerging diseases hence the title. Potential problems with all multi-authored books are unevenness, redundancy, and logorrhea. None of these problems exists here, thanks to the meticulous editing of Koproski and Oldstone. Each chapter begins with a 1 -page vignette mini short story giving a personality to the disease, followed by dueling chapters that discuss the past, present, and future directions of a particular infection. Forty-three experts discuss 11 viral infections of humans, 2 viral diseases of plants, 4 bacterial diseases, malaria, mucosal immunity, and prion diseases.
An epilogue and thorough index complete the book. Each contributor is tops in his or her field and is concise, almost to a fault. All provide heuristic nuggets. For example, Walter Reed graduated from the University of Virginia in 1868 at age 17, the youngest person to do so in the schools history. In another example, the hepatitis C virus belongs to the flavivirus family along with yellow fever and dengue fever. Does this suggest a possible mosquito-borne mode of transmission?
There is also a cautionary note about rabies in silver-haired bats: It may be that a variant of the virus may not have to be inoculated by their bite; direct or indirect contact such as air-borne spread is hinted at. The death of 2 Washington state men, reported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in August of this year, apparently supports this worrisome possibility. If one had any criticism of this book, it might be that it is too short. However, this appears to be a constraint placed on the editors and their contributors by the publisher. A longer book might have been too intimidating and expensive. Certainly there is more to be said about each of the diseases as well as others not covered, including the emergence of Born disease virus, the spread of the Kernel bunt fungus, mycotoxicologic disease causations, cryptosporidium wannabes, even mad squirrel disease.
One would like to think that the editors are planning a sequel, or at least are considering it. I have not seen this book reviewed in the lay press or in medical journals. This is disturbing. It may well be that the 41 contributors cannot review a book that they themselves have contributed to; it would take people like these men and women to properly do justice to this outstanding book.
One hopes that the word will spread through the email grapevine and that this book will slowly become the best-seller it deserves to be. It should be made available in medical school book stores to stimulate students deciding on a career path. The book should also be in school libraries for high school children and precocious elementary school youngsters. If such were the case, a new generation of boys and girls could read about todays microbe hunters, most of whom have contributed chapters to this book. Or, as Thomas H. Weller put it: Representing the then category of microbe hunters, I can only look with admiration at the now category of investigators.
Envision a child archiving the names of a whole new cohort of scientists into her laptop. Perhaps the names Weller, Krugman, Pruisiner, and others might be among them after the youngster reads this extraordinary, even inspiring, update of Microbe Hunters. It is really, after all, a book to inspire future scientists. John S.
Marr, MD, MPH MD Health Plan North Haven, Conn. References Rhodes R: Deadly Feasts: Tracking the Secrets of a Terrifying New Plague. New York, Simon &# 038; Schuster, 1997, p 29.
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Research essay sample on Koproski And Oldstone Microbe Hunters Book
