Secret Agents: The Menace of Emerging Infections | 
 enlarge | Author: Madeline Drexler
Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics)
Category: Book
List Price: $15.00
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Rating:  19 reviews
Sales Rank: 160331
Media: Paperback
Pages: 336
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 7.8 x 5.3 x 0.9
ISBN: 0142002615
Dewey Decimal Number: 614.4
EAN: 9780142002612
ASIN: 0142002615
Publication Date: February 25, 2003
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Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Light shelfwear,remainder mark;
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Amazon.com Review
The world's worst bioterrorist isn't the murderer who put anthrax spores into mail in the fall of 2001; it's Mother Nature, writes Madeline Drexler in this survey of infectious diseases. They're all here, described in detail from historical, scientific, and public-health perspectives: AIDS, influenza, the West Nile virus, and so on. Secret Agents is a good primer on each. The best chapter--and the scariest--may be the last one, which covers bioterrorism of the human variety (i.e., not Mother Nature). "If bioterrorists released smallpox virus, it would ... become a global calamity within six weeks," she writes. That's not even the scariest possibility: "Researchers estimate that as little as one gram of aerosolized botox could kill more than 1.5 million people." And there are no easy preventive measures. "Of the 50 top bioweapon pathogens, only 13 have vaccines or treatments." Because of this, Drexler calls for a massive increase in public-health funding. Without that, our doctors and hospitals will be unprepared for a disaster they may be able to anticipate right now. --John Miller
Product Description
As timely as it is urgent, this well-researched book from veteran science journalist Madeline Drexler delivers a compelling report on today's most ominous infectious disease threats. She focuses on a different danger in each chapter-from the looming risk of lethal influenza to in-depth information on the public health perils posed by bioterrorism. With a novelist's descriptive eye and a thriller writer's sense of tension, she warns us that the most ceaselessly creative bioterrorist is still Mother Nature, whose microbial operatives are all around us, ready to pounce when conditions are right.
Book Description
So you think modern medicine has the whole virus game figured out? Think again. And it’s not even a question of “if” we’ll be hit by some new and deadly diseaseâ it’s “when.”
The war on germs is being fought on many frontsâ from 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’s bold headlines would have us believe that the biggest threat comes from bioterrorism. But don’t underestimate Mother Nature, perhaps the most savage bioterrorist of all. Assisted by the increasing ease with which peopleâ and the germs they carryâ move across international borders, she’s an effective force to be reckoned with, a key player on this battlefield. As author Madeline Drexler makes clear, we’d 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’s 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’s new and emerging infectionsâ those that have increased in attack rate or geographic range, or threaten to do soâ and 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’s thorough survey of the field of infectious disease, supplemented by extensive interviews with today’s 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.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 14 more reviews...
 Interesting but not great June 9, 2008
M. Hyman (Seattle, WA USA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I enjoyed this book -- it gives a good overview of many of the viruses facing us, and the issues with our underfunded and ignored health system. I particularly found the chapters on viruses as the root cause of many chronic illnesses to be interesting, and the chapter on West Nile in New York was particularly interesting.
I found The Coming Plague to be more gripping, and Virus X to connect more emotionally, so I have to say I prefer those books to this one. At points this book seems a bit too much like a survey (which of course it is), and I found myself wanting to have either more scientific depth or more character depth.
 Very informative introduction to this subject June 27, 2007
Luis Mansilla Miranda (Viña del Mar, Chile)
This book definitely leaves you kind of worried, showing you some of the deadliest pathogens known today. This microscopic world of bacteries and viruses has proven difficult to deal with in latest years due to misuse of antibiotics and the creation or formation of new strains like Influenza, a virus capable of pandemic. Thing is, as the author explain, there are several ways to be infected, airborne, by food, mosquitoes, even bioterrorism, a situation that makes you think if your country is prepared to keep it under control. The book read easily and softly, especially good for the layperson and in my case, awoke an interest to know more about it.
 A very thoughtful and thought provoking read July 8, 2005
J. O'Mara (Virginia)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
As a neophyte in the understanding of bacteria and infectious desease I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Knowing how fine a line we walk in our symbiotic relationship with bacteria is as frightening as it is fascinating. I belive this book should be required reading in schools.
new agents out to get you April 22, 2005
Diana Wilson (sparta, ga)
2 out of 4 found this review helpful
When reading this expose I had to remember that Ms. Drexler is a medical reporter researcher, and as such there are areas of her research that may not have been done in depth...otherwise the book is easy reading... The author has much to say regarding new and emerging viruses and bacteria and their ability to penetrate the animal-human barrier. Doctors and researchers are baffled in their attempts to locate the culprits which were in some examples birds spreading germs that jumped to humans. The flaw was Ms Drexler's misses the mark on the origins of the aids virus, choosing instead the old dry tail of the natives ate the green monkey story - ergo, they got the virus. This did not take much work!!! As current evidence shows the problem runs much deeper.
Easy to read and interesting. May 22, 2003
lisa (PA)
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
After hearing Madeline Drexler speak at my university, I had to read this book. It is clear that Ms. Drexler has put forth a lot of effort toward producing a well-researched and well-written book. There are many quotes from professionals on the front lines of infection control, and there are many examples of normal people suffering from frightening and strange emerging infections. Drexler's book offers a warning that we must focus on public health issues if we hope to avoid the tragedy that an agent such as a pandemic flu could cause. The book is filled with warnings about the overuse of antibiotics and the inefficiency of public health beauracracy and lack of funding. I hope that more professionals and lay people read this book and heed its message.
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