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Virus X: Tracking the New Killer Plagues--Out of the Present & Into the Future Hardcover – February 1, 1997

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Frank Ryan (Author)
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Frank Ryan (Author)
4.1 out of 5 stars 26 customer reviews
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Product Details

  • Hardcover: 448 pages
  • Publisher: Little, Brown and Company; 1st edition (February 1, 1997)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0316763837
  • ISBN-13: 978-0316763837
  • Product Dimensions: 6.5 x 1.2 x 9.5 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
  • Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,627,324 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Top Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 starsGrim, enthralling, and timely
By ealovitt HALL OF FAMETOP 100 REVIEWER on October 29, 2001
Format: Paperback Verified Purchase
For those of us who are nervous about the current anthrax outbreak, "Virus X" will not make very soothing bedtime reading. Dr. Ryan describes emerging plagues such as Ebola haemorrhagic fever, AIDS, and Junin fever in grim, gory, pathological detail. If that were not enough to keep his readers sleepless, the author spends the last few chapters theorizing on why new and perhaps deadlier plagues may soon emerge. In the final chapter, "Virus X - The Doomsday Scenario," he discusses the (thus far, theoretical) makeup of a virus that could cause the extinction of the human race.
Viruses already exist that are uniformly fatal to people, if not treated. Rabies is one of them, but luckily for us it has a rather clunky delivery system:
"The human rabies virus lives in a symbiotic cycle with bats, from which it is capable of infecting a wide variety of mammals, particularly foxes, coyotes, jackals, and rodents...The virus is programmed to infect the brain centers in the animal that induce uncontrollable rage, while also replicating in the salivary glands to best spread the contagion through the provoked frenzy of biting."
(The bad news is that out of the 5,000+ species of mammals on our planet, a thousand species are bats, and over two thousand species are rodents.)
Another almost uniformly fatal virus with a relatively inefficient delivery system is HIV-1.
Dr. Ryan asks the question, "Could such lethal agents [HIV-1, Ebola, rabies] ever take the second step, and become sufficiently contagious to infect all or virtually all of the human species?...the only route of contagion likely to prove universally threatening to humanity would be person-to-person spread by the respiratory route."
According to Dr.Read more ›
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5.0 out of 5 starsA frightening report, more pertinent than ever
By Dennis Littrell HALL OF FAMEVINE VOICE on June 12, 2003
Format: Paperback
British science journalist and physician Frank Ryan covers a lot of ground in this extensively researched and engagingly written trek into the world of emerging viruses. These viruses, indigenous to disturbed areas of the world, particularly in the tropics, are now being sprung loose to threaten humankind.
The first third of the book covers the story of the "Four Corners" hantavirus that jumped from deer mice to humans with fatal effect in the southwestern United States in 1993. This is science journalism at its best.
In the next third of the book Ryan takes us to the jungles of Africa and traces the origin and effect of the horrendously brutal Ebola virus. Again he tells an engaging story with a pictorial vividness. One is amazed at the courage and dedication of the health care workers and medical scientists who risked their lives to treat the sick and dying and to find the source of the deadly disease.
At the beginning of the last third of the book, Ryan reprises what we know about HIV, its origins, its spread, the political and social stupidities involved in its spread, and the prospects for combating this terror. Again he makes the personalities and the nature of their work come to life. Then beginning with "Chapter Sixteen: The Aggressive Symbiont," Dr. Ryan discusses in general and theoretically the evolutionary nature of viruses, where they came from, why they exist and what we can expect from them in the future. Most pointedly he explores the possibility of a doomsday virus that is simultaneously as easily spread as influenza and as deadly as Ebola.
In a sense this part of the book, originally published in 1996, predicts the SARS outbreak, but does not stop there.Read more ›
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4.0 out of 5 starsRiveting, informative read
By L. Blackmore on February 11, 2001
Format: Paperback
As someone only peripherally involved with epidemiology and public health, I found Ryan's book an entirely fascinating read, and nowhere near as sensationalist as the title might have implied. Not only for its suspenseful chronology of how the courage and tenacity of epi researchers has us closer to understanding these natural threats, but also for the countless "aha" moments it offers on how viruses actually live and work.
Ryan strikes a good balance between readability and credibility, using both layman's terms and (as far as I can tell with the help of the MD/epidemiologist in the family) accurate use of the appropriate lingo for his subject matter.
Basing his narrative on actual outbreaks of different types has helped Ryan create easily accessible self-contained sections that make the book an easy bedsider.
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4.0 out of 5 starsanother good virus book
By Laura Matheny on August 1, 1999
Format: Paperback
As a teacher who has a strange fascination with viruses, I use my summer to catch up on the latest books. While this book was in part a review of information presented in much more detail elsewhere (the endnotes are thorough with sources), the author's theory was new to me and kept me thinking for weeks. Even if you are quite familiar with the viruses discussed, I encourage you to read Dr. Ryan's conclusions.
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4.0 out of 5 starsA great introduction...
By A Customer on June 9, 1999
Format: Paperback
to the world of emerging infectious diseases, and epidemic research. However, much of the information he presents can be found in other books considered "MUSTS" in public health or epi bookcases, for example "The Coming Plague" by Laurie Garrett. If you're curious, or just want a comprehensive but general look into the world of emerging infectious diseases, this is the book for you.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 starsSuspense, thriller and mystery in one

Dr. Ryan proves that fact is just as interesting and entertaining as fiction. Building upon a theory of a global homeostasis and the new emerging viruses as products of humans... Read more

Published on April 28, 2013 by Kelly Harris
4.0 out of 5 starsGood Reading Treat- Wash Your Hands Thoroughly After

It was about the time of SARS and chicken scare and i was travelling with my toddler by bus from the border of Aranyaprathet to Phnom Penh. Read more

Published on September 22, 2010 by M. E. Dungo
4.0 out of 5 starsThe human side of pandemics

Virus X details actual virus caused pandemics. It gives the how and why of the spread of virus caused diseases. Read more

Published on October 14, 2009 by L.W. Samuelson
5.0 out of 5 starsFascinating

This is a fascinating book about viruses, mostly the dangerous ones. It is a combination of murder/mystery -- with stories about various viral outbreaks, how they first appeared,... Read more

Published on June 19, 2008 by M. Hyman
4.0 out of 5 starsloaded with information

This book was a tough read, mainly because of all the technical details. If you can slog through the heavy read, the theories and concepts in the book are very interesting and... Read more

Published on June 18, 2008 by Brenda Pink
4.0 out of 5 starsOne of the best Germ books I've read

This book is incredibly well-researched and well-written. Frank Ryan's look at emerging viruses is thorough and engaging. Read more

Published on June 10, 2008 by Joanna Ehrhart
4.0 out of 5 starsAbsolutely Fascinating

I found this book to be enthralling in its descriptions of doctors and "virus hunters" tracking down the specific causes of new diseases that appear to emerge out of nowhere. Read more

Published on August 12, 2007 by B. McEwan
5.0 out of 5 starsNon-Fiction Horror

A book that reads like a Steven King 'best of' horrors but without the fiction!

Published on March 25, 2006 by R. J. LaBarba
5.0 out of 5 starsNot just another doomsday book

Frank Ryan seems to be right at the point. If we are to see more of emerging diseases in the future, this book MAY explain why. Read more

Published on October 4, 2005 by Proteus
4.0 out of 5 starsANOTHER FASCINATING LOOK AT KILLER MICROBES

Frank Ryan begins his book on killer microbes with an account of the 1993 Hanta virus outbreak in New Mexico. Read more

Published on September 23, 2005 by Severin Olson

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