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25 of 27 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
"In the city, famine and pestilence shall devour him", February 25, 2002
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, and one which has greatly influenced history. The book provides a stark analysis of human history and the ruthlessness of life with germs, but despite the general negativity of this book, one must also appreciate how far we have come, and in how many ways we succeed against these diseases, and continue to succeed. New diseases are inevitable, but Ridley suggests in the book "Disease" that the future may well be in DNA vaccines. One can only hope. One disapppointment is the lack of deeper medical explanation on eg how diseases function, and why some are more effective than others, and various aspects of the immune system etc. There is a distinct lack of deeper medical analysis, for those like myself who want a deeper medical investigation. Recommended for those who are interested in how sickness has affected history, but not so much *why* we get sick, in any great detail.
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