Secret Agents: The Menace of Emerging Infections [Paperback]

Madeline Drexler (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0142002615 | ISBN-13: 978-0142002612 | Publication Date: February 25, 2003

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.

Editorial Reviews

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 --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Library Journal

"The most menacing bioterrorist is Mother Nature herself," declares science journalist Drexler. She backs up her argument with stories of infectious microorganisms from ancient plagues to HIV. Antibiotic-resistant tuberculosis, newly recognized infectious agents like Creutzfeldt-Jakob-causing prions, and predictions of a postantibiotic era create a chilling story of a future in which surgery is no longer safe and treatments for even the simplest infectious diseases are no longer available. Drexler includes chapters on food-borne and insect-borne disease, the 1918 flu pandemic, and bioterrorism. One of the most interesting chapters is on the possible connection between infectious agents and chronic diseases like heart disease and schizophrenia. Though similar in scope to Philip Tierno's Germs (LJ 1/02), this book focuses more on general public health issues and less on day-to-day actions that individuals can take to prevent illness. Most public libraries will want both because of the current interest in bioterrorism. Elizabeth Williams, Fresno City Coll. Lib., CA
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics) (February 25, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0142002615
• ISBN-13: 978-0142002612
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #331,052 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #37 in Books > History > Military > Weapons & Warfare > Biological & Chemical

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best of the bunch., February 6, 2002

By 

Fred J. Bobila "Shopper" (Upper Marlboro, MD) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Secret Agents: The Menace of Emerging Infections (Hardcover)

I've read several other books on this same sort of topic, including the seminal work by Laurie Garrett, The Coming Plauge. This new entry into the category of books devoted to germs is a genuine winner. I couldn't put this one down. There's no doubt that this stuff is scary. After reading "Secret Agents" you kind of figure that you shouldn't eat, drink, breathe, or go on too many picnics where you might come into contact with disease carrying insects. But the bottom line is that these frightening facts are not the stuff of some novelist's imagination -- this stuff is true. Which makes it even more disturbing -- and compelling -- to read. Even though bioterrorism is much on everyone's mind these days, Drexler reminds us that most of the diseases that would be weaponized and used against us are the creation of good old Mother Nature. And She's perfectly capable of packing a wallop all on her own. The writing is sharp and crisp, the germ-hunting stories fascinating. I would recommend this to anyone who likes a good scientific detective story. If you enjoy it as much as I did, you'll end up finishing this in one sitting.
P.S. Cool cover (catch that dead crow, the sentinel of doom that announces the presence of diseases like West Nile).

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Menace of Everything, March 12, 2003

By 

Ricky Hunter (New York City, NY United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Secret Agents: The Menace of Emerging Infections (Paperback)

Madeline Drexler's book is as frightening as she wants it to be. Secret Agents is a gripping, well-written fast read that should deeply frighten everyone on first glance. The subtitle is the menace of emerging infections but it could almost be changed to the menace of everything. There seems little escape from the possible scenarios she clearly presents (and this clarity is definately one of the book's strengths as she makes bio-science quite understandable for the layperson.) The chapter on the West Nile Virus that begins the book is particularly exciting and will the hook the reader immediately. If one pauses to look at the actual numbers, the book is somewhat less frightening as the numbers of deaths are always substantially below many of the doom-sayers' predictions, although she will repeatedly tell the reader this may not always be so. A fascinating book for our times.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Bugs at Work, February 10, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Secret Agents: The Menace of Emerging Infections (Hardcover)

In "Secret Agents: The Menace of Emerging Infections," author Madeline Drexler takes us deep into the world of fast-moving microorganisms that can sicken people and end lives before doctors, hospitals or health agencies know what hit. Drexler shows "the bugs" at work in a well-chosen group of past and potential public health crises, including the West Nile virus's surprise hop across the Atlantic and the inevitable next influenza pandemic. With clarity and style, Drexler depicts in detail the characters in each drama: the amazingly adaptable bugs and the scientists and agency officials who must face them down. Meticulously researched, "Secret Agents" presents not only the scientific, but also the historic, political and economic contexts of approaching the seemingly intractable public health issues raised by the bugs. In the end, Drexler writes, such problems can only be addressed in a global context, in the interests of both rich and poor countries and the people who inhabit them. A fascinating read.