Microbes: The Life-Changing Story of Germs

by Phillip K. Peterson, Michael T. Osterholm (Foreword by)

Overview

This is the only book that tells both sides of the story of germs: that they are critically important for our health and that the dangers of emerging pathogens continue to wreak havoc in our bodies and around the world.
With straight-forward and engaging writing, infectious diseases physician Phillip Peterson surveys how our understanding of viruses has changed throughout history, from early plagues and pandemics to more recent outbreaks like HIV/AIDS, Ebola, Zika, and Coronavirus.
Microbes also takes on contemporary issues like the importance of vaccinations in the face of the growing anti-vaxxer movement, as well as the rise of cutting-edge health treatments like fecal transplants.
Peterson relays his first-hand experience dealing with an unprecedented emergence of new microbial threats. Yet at the same time he has witnessed the astounding recent discoveries of the crucial role of the microbes that colonize our body surfaces in human health.
Microbes explains for general readers where these germs came from, what they do to and for us, and what can be done to stop the bad actors and foster the benefactors.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781633886346
Publisher:	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Publication date:	08/08/2020
Pages:	312
Sales rank:	1,073,450
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Phillip K. Peterson, M.D. is professor of medicine emeritus at the University of Minnesota Medical School, where he served as an infectious diseases specialist for four decades. He is a former director of the Infectious Diseases and International Medicine Division in the Department of Medicine. He is a fellow of the American College of Medicine and of the Infectious Diseases Society of America. In 2011, Peterson was awarded the Gold Award for Distinguished Achievement in Research by his alma mater, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons.

Table of Contents

Foreword vii

Note to the Reader xi

Acknowledgments xiii

Introduction: How Tiny Creatures Make a Huge Impact xv

Part 1 Intimate Friends

1 The Tree of Life 3

2 It's a Microbial World 9

3 The Human Microbiome 17

4 Departments of Bodily Defense 29

5 It's All Connected: The Health of Humans, Animals, and Our Planet 35

Part 2 Mortal Enemies

6 What Has Plagued Us? 41

7 Killer Viruses 59

8 The Buzz on Mosquito-Borne Infections 75

9 Microbes in Flight: Birds and Bats 93

10 Don't Breathe This Air 113

11 Microbes in the Woods 123

12 What's in the Beef? 137

13 Gut Reactions 147

14 When Beauty Isn't Skin Deep 167

15 The Perils of Antibiotic Misuse 177

Part 3 Germs in the Future

16 The Straight Poop on Fecal Transplants 195

17 Healing with Friendly Bacteria and Fungi 203

18 Healing with Friendly Viruses 211

19 The Future of Vaccines 217

20 Microbes and the Sixth Extinction 233

21 Science, Ignorance, and Mystery 247

Appendix: Landmark Discoveries and Notable Germs 255

Notes 261

Further Reading 279

Index 283

Editorial Reviews

05/04/2020

Infectious disease specialist Peterson (Get Inside Your Doctor’s Head) provides a fascinating overview of germs in his educational and timely primer. Peterson begins by explaining how germs, despite the threat they pose to other living things by causing disease, appear at the “very root” of the “Tree of Life,” as the predecessor to multicellular organisms. Peterson then surveys epidemics over the course of human history, such as smallpox or the bubonic plague, and those of the modern world; in the early 1990s, he notes, medical professionals were experiencing an “onslaught of new or reemerging infectious diseases.” He covers more than 20 in all, notably including killer viruses such as HIV and Ebola (though not the virus that causes Covid-19). In a final section looking to the future, he cautions that “we still have a very long way to go” in vaccine development. But though the “nature of many germs remains profoundly mysterious,” he stresses that there are many scientists committed to solving these mysteries. Lay readers should find this an eye-opening and illuminating look at the pressing issue of infectious disease. Agent: Jessica Kastner. (July)

Publishers Weekly

Dr. Phillip Peterson’s book is of deep and enduring value. The global health community knows only too well the risk to humanity from microbes. There has been a lot of writing in the scientific community, but the public is confused. Microbes: The Life Changing Story of Germs will provide a major service in the US and globally, as it reaches millions of people who care deeply about this topic."
–Lawrence O. Gostin, Director, World Health Organization Collaborating Center of Public Health Law & Human Rights, Professor of Global Health Law at Georgetown University, and author of Global Health Law

"Dr. Phil Peterson has a lifetime of experience in studying how microbes interact with people. In Microbes: The Life-Changing Story of Germs, he shares his wisdom for a general audience, in a way that is both accessible and accurate. A very useful resource for a wide range of readers."
–Martin Blaser, M.D.,Director, Center for Advanced Biotechnology and Medicine, Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences, Henry Rutgers Chair of the Human Microbiome and the author of Missing Microbes: How the Overuse of Antibiotics Is Fueling Our Modern Plagues

“From one celled organisms to One Health, Phil Peterson writes engagingly about the microbial world, which turns out to be far more complicated - and more comforting - than prior generations of scientists and physicians ever could have imagined. Yes, our species will constantly be challenged by new nasties like Zika and HIV, but Peterson makes clear why we shouldn't throw out the baby with the bathwater — or even wash the baby so often in the first place.”
–Craig Packer, PhD, Professor, Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior, Director, Lion Research Center University of Minnesota and the author of Lions in the Balance: Man-Eaters, Manes, and Men with Guns

“This book provides a bird’s eye view of the fascinating world of microbial agents and will surely stimulate all curious readers to want to learn more about the microorganisms that we humans encounter in our daily lives. A must introduction into microbiology!”
–Johan S. Bakken MD, PhD, Former President, Infectious Diseases Society of America

"Infectious disease specialist Peterson (Get Inside Your Doctor’s Head) provides a fascinating overview of germs in his educational and timely primer...Lay readers should find this an eye-opening and illuminating look at the pressing issue of infectious disease." -Publishers Weekly

From the Publisher

This book is a must read for any educator who is teaching a microbiology course to both majors and nonmajors. The structure of each chapter (The Enemy, Its Targets, and Aftermath; Treatment and Prevention; and Lessons for the Future) would greatly serve as a reading assignment and support for any undergraduate course in microbiology. Peterson’s style, his choice of language, and incorporation of quotations from both scientists and nonscientists would make this volume a great stocking stuffer, birthday present, or book club read for anyone who is interested in the good and bad ways microbes impact our lives. Readers will put this book down with the knowledge that according to Louis Pasteur: “It is the microbes who will have the last word.

The Quarterly Review Of Biology 6/98