by Madeline Drexler
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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.
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
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Average Customer Review:
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
 Interesting but not great, 2008-06-09
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.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
 Very informative introduction to this subject, 2007-06-27
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.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
 A very thoughtful and thought provoking read, 2005-07-08
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.
2 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
new agents out to get you, 2005-04-22
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.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
Easy to read and interesting., 2003-05-22
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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