Product Description

A noted medical historian places recent outbreaks of deadly diseases in historical perspective, with accounts of other alarming and recurring diseases throughout history and of the ways in which humans have adapted. Reprint. 17,500 first printing.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #325623 in Books
• Published on: 1996-05-22
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 272 pages

From Amazon.com
Whereas many popular books on microbes focus on contemporary pathogens and emerging epidemics, Arno Karlen's Man and Microbes provides a historical look at the coevolution of humans and microorganisms. Karlen speculates that infections are integral to the process of life itself, that the mitochondria in every animal cell, for instance, are likely descendants of infectious agents. He then traces the development of man from primitive hunter-gatherer to urban dweller to world traveler, pointedly analyzing how socio-ecological changes have contributed to the changing incidence of disease. With amazing detail, Karlen describes the origins of historical plagues (smallpox, cholera, influenza, polio, and others) as well as the emergence of scourges such as hemorrhagic fever (Ebola and its cousins), Lyme disease, Legionnaires' disease, and even the deep mysteries of retroviruses such as HIV.

From Publishers Weekly
Karlen (Napoleon's Glands) has produced a disturbing, succinct, compelling report on the current global crisis of new and resurgent diseases. Covering cholera, leprosy, cancer, AIDS, viral encephalitis, lethal Ebola fever, streptococcal "flesh-eating" infections and a host of other killers, he shows how the present wave of diseases arose with drastic environmental change, wars, acceleration of travel, the breakdown of public health measures, and microbial adaptation. In the book's first half, he entertainingly charts humanity's relationship with microbes, from the earliest hominids' probable encounters with bubonic plague to hunter-gatherers' comparative good health, the explosion of sickness in Bronze Age cities and the spread of infections with trade, conquest and empire. Karlen concludes that today's epidemics are part of an ancient pattern-whenever people make radical changes in their lifestyle and environment, disease flourishes. He suggests that improved surveillance could help defuse the crisis we face now.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
Karlen, author of Napoleon's Glands and Other Adventures in Biohistory (LJ 8/84), focuses his attention on infectious diseases throughout history, from ancient hunter- gatherers through some of the latest headline news. Karlen provides us with both a "prequel" to Laurie Garrett's The Coming Plague (LJ 9/15/94) as well as a valuable update of William H. McNeil's classic Plagues and Peoples (LJ 9/15/76). Outbreaks of new diseases, including terrifying hemorrhagic fevers lilke Ebola and Marburg viruses, and resurgent drug-resistant strains of historic killers such as tuberculosis and malaria have confounded post-World War II complacency about the end of epidemics. As Karlen points out, changes in the physical environment, technology, and lifestyle provide new opportunities for viruses and bacteria to exploit. Diseases are an inescapable part of the earth's ecology, as tenacious and adaptable as the human hosts they threaten. A fascinating and cautionary tale, Man and Microbes is recommended for most libraries.?Kathy Arsenault, Univ. of South Florida-St. Petersburg Lib.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Customer Reviews

A Fascinating and Frightening History of Disease
Arno Karlen's "Man and Microbes" is an informative and well-written account of the history of disease that is accessible to specialists and non-specialists alike. It is well-researched and it is written in the natural style of a storyteller. Karlen covers a wide span of time, starting off about five million years ago when our ancestors descended from the trees to the ground and finishing in the 1990s. He looks at a range of diseases, including the Mystery Disase of Pudoc, influenza, Lyme Disease, and AIDS, and looks at them through the themes of change (changes in environment, technology, interaction/behavior, lifestyle) and adaptation (human adaptation to disease and vice versa). Karlen ends the book on a hopeful note, and reminds the reader that while history shows so many instances of disease it also shows many instances of humans adapting to and dealing with disease.

I was a little initimidated about reading this book, since I have a pathetic knowledge of science. However, I found the book very readable and I can honestly say that I have a greater appreciation for science and for the human ability to survive after having read the book. A must-read!

A good read on an important topic, but lacking in detail
The author presents a convincing series of anecdotes to support his hypothesis that many infectious diseases result from environmental and cultural changes. This postulate is very topical given the recent experience with SARS.

It is an enjoyable read, most suitable for a lay person looking for a general overview of infectious diseases in human history.

On the other hand, the covereage of individual diseases is very shallow. Those interested in an in depth analysis of the history of a given disease should look elsewhere.

Very good overview of the history of infectious diseases
After "Plagues and peoples", a classical book by William McNeill that first appeared in 1975, I read this book, which was first published in 1995. The contents are more or less the same, but Arno Karlen has a more modern style of writing, making this book more readable. Even though the last chapters give at times a somewhat alarmist view of what we are heading for, the author gives a very good overview of the history of infectious diseases and also the "epidemic of epidemics" as he calls it which is happening right now: from AIDS to SARS and from West Nile virus to the return with a vengeance of tuberculosis. Due to the enormous population pressure, human mobility and the ever increasing demands we make on our environment, new diseases and their rapid spread are only a breath away.

When one reads this book, it also becomes obvious how fast both the diseases and the medical science that has to fight them are developing: SARS was (of course) nowhere in sight in 1995 and the origin of prion diseases like mad cows' disease (which we now know is caused by the alteration of a protein that is always present in the brain) was still very uncertain at time. This book still is a very smooth read and definitely worth your time if you are interested in infectious diseases and their history.