"In the city, famine and pestilence shall devour him" Feb 25, 2002 (29 of 31 found this helpful)
So the author of revelation saw the lethal side of cities (quoted on page 48), or as Mr Arno Karlen better describes-"as farmers and villagers began crowding into cities, this immunologically virgin mass offered a feast to germs lurking in domesticated animals, wastes, filth, and scavengers" (page 48).
This book provides a reasonable overview of germs and social history. Mr Karlen traces the development of agriculture and cities to the development of 'crowd diseases', jumping ship from previous group species such as horses, pigs, ducks, rats, etc, or mutating from previously benign forms, or appearing and diappearing from nowhere, leaving little trace. As far as other species influence goes-that old friend the dog is suggested to have contributed no less than 65 diseases to homo sapien (page 39), with 45 from cattle, and 35 fom horses.
The reader will find discussion on the likely origins and developments of eg measles (possibly from distemper in dogs, although Diamond in the book "Guns Germs and Steel" suggests cattle), smallpox (dogs or cattle), influenza (pigs and ducks), common cold (horses?), scarlet fever, typhus, bubonic plague (fleas), syphilis, gonorrhea, cholera (lives in water), AIDS (probably chimps), malaria (mosquito), tuberculosis, leprosy, legionaires disease, and a host of others. Various historical calamities are described such as:
- Athens which lost 1 in 3 people in 430 BC, (unknown- possibly measles, typhoid, scarlet fever, smallpox), and which ended the so-called 'golden age' of Greece.
-AD 164-180+ Roman empire-4-7 million deaths, (probably smallpox),
-540 AD+ bubonic plague-halving Europes population over the next 150 years,
-200 BC to 200 AD smallpox and measles ravaged China and Japan (many other times also),
-several waves-657-1551 AD-"sweating sickness" (appears to have gone extinct),
-AD 125- 1 million deaths in north Africa alone (?measles)
-AD 79 Rome-Anthrax, or possibly malaria
-later 20 century-present-AIDS, -millions and climbing,
-1348-1352 AD bubonic plague, with several waves- 25 million plus in Europe, more in the east,
-1800s- several waves-cholera and yellow fever in Europe,
-1492-1800s+-Americas estimated 90 million deaths of indigenous populations,
-1918, influenza-around 40 million.
-many others.
Older calamities are often less well documented in eg Africa, India, China, etc. 20th century examples are many, often small, and often a 'new' disease-eg page 6 lists a partial list of around 20 'new' diseases in latter 20 century outbreaks, including ebola and legionaires.
Readers will be interested to read of the social changes which were influenced by many of these outbreaks, such as the tragic conquest of the Europeans into the Americas, and the decline of the Roman Empire-partly due to successive ravages of various plagues. As the empire expanded it brought back numerous germs, something which was forgotten by the time partly immune explorers brought them again to other lands in the second millenium AD.
Modern examples and resurgences are also discussed such as Lyme disease, mad cow disease, AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria, legionaires, etc. Most diseases tend to decline over time as a population becomes immune, (eg Syphilis, since about 1492) but a few seem to go the other way-eg polio and tuberculosis-ie they increase in severity. Modern examples which make medical specialists nervous in the modern age are also described, such as hantaviruses, ebola, TB, hepatitus, AIDS -especially of mutation, and malaria, but there are a host of others.
The thing I find fascinating, and sad about this book, is the complexity of the immune system, and how these diseases originate and proliferate. Many have jumped from other species, some have always been with us- but ocassionally mutate into a virulent form. Some have always been around in water or elsewhere, and mutute/evolve occassionally -like Legionaires disease. It is an ever-present war,
A disease progress report at the end of the 20th Century May 3, 2000 (14 of 14 found this helpful)
Published in the UK as `Plague's Progress: A Social History of Man and Disease', Karlen provides the reader here with an excellent introduction to the topic of the natural, as well as social history of the most common human life-threatening diseases. Covered here are all the usual (as well as some more unusual) suspects, from mediaeval plagues to AIDS and CJD; from soldiers not warring due to disease outbreak, to war outbreak being signalled by disease. Although there are some one-liners for conspiracy theorists with regards man-made disease vectors, the principal thesis of this book is that new pandemic and epidemic outbreaks of disease result from changes in human and other microbe host behaviours and the situated environment(s) in which these changes take place. For example, changes in land usage, habitat (as much in the `home' as in the field), species interactions, development & redevelopment, etc.., necessarily give rise to novel ecological niches available for exploitation by any number of host/pathogenic organisms and disease vector transmission pathways. Karlen is correct to further emphasise the point that such opportunist developments and novel disease situations arise from constructive events (aircraft transportation of secondary hosts, air-conditioner habitats and overuse of antibiotics) as much as from destructive events (deforestation and animal extintions give rise to traditional host-parasite species shifts). A useful summary table is provided of the time-line of recent life-threatening contagious diseases, but I found myself annotating the margin with a few more details concerning each (e.g., secondary host - rodent, cattle, insect; virus/bacteria/protozoan organism etc) - all of which was nonetheless available in the text of the book. Although a delicate subject for those suffering from any of the conditions described here (both directly and by atives/carers nearby), Karlen presents both an informative and entertaining dialogue for the newcomer to the topic of disease - clearly accessible and in non-technical language for the lay reader looking for a clearer understanding of a life-threatening phenomena that is likely to always be with us in some form. If I were to have any grumbles, they would relate solely to a few of my own particular interests in a couple of theories given short thrift here. Such might include exposures to man-made/altered disease vectors (cf: Moreno; whether they be designed for plant, insect or human control via innoculation) and the theories put forward by writers such as Lyn Margulis (symbiotic evolution) and the more esoteric writings of Hoyle & Wickramasinge or Francis Crick. So much better informed concerning the role of natural, political and historical events influencing pandemic and epidemic disease evolution, following our reading of this Kaplan book one might be in a better position to explain our forgetting of the 1918 flu pandemic, the last widespread disease within living memory, taking a total number of lives far greater than the toll of the last century's World Wars combined. How, and whether, such information will be used to manage the future of our social behaviour, demography, medical practice, and our continuing scientific research culture, we must await the coming years to find out.
References:
Crick: Life Itself.
Hoyle & Wickramasinge: Diseases from Space; Evolution from Space.
Margulis & Fester: Symbiosis as a source of Evolutionary Innovation.
Margulis & Sagan: Microcosmos.
Moreno: Undue Risk.
Great Intro, But Lacking in the Details - Jan 27, 2005 (9 of 9 found this helpful)
First and foremost, this book is an oustanding, fantastic introduction to the world of infectious diseases. Because of two factors, however, much informatoin is lost. Firstly, the book is rather short - hardly three hundred pages. Secondly, there are thousands of years to cover in such a volume. As a result, the reader is left with a superficial - albeit insightful - look at the history of diseases throughout history.
Karlen attempts - and succeeds, as best as expected - to do three things in this book. He begins by discussing the disease, or outbreak, at hand. Syphilis, tuberculosis, legionnaire's, marberg, ebola are all covered - en brief. Then, he goes on to elaborate on the social climate of the time, to set a context for the reader. He then discusses the impact that these diseases had on thepopulace.
As a personal fiend of specific, explicit writings on the physiological results of diseases, I was somewhat disappointed: AIDs is hardly discussed, and the physical descriptions and onsets are scant, if existant. However, Karlen's adept critical thinking - he analyzes the social impact, etc of each outbreak - makes this book worthwhile.
Overall, a good introduction. I kept notes through this book on topics that I was interested in exploring further, and was not disappointed.