Infectious Diseases In An Age Of Change

'Infectious Diseases in an Age of Change' is a book published by the National Academy of Sciences (NAS). The book features articles and research presented at the colloquium on "Changes in Human Ecology and Behavior: Effects on Infectious Diseases" at the NAS. Although the articles that were presented at the colloquium didn't receive peer reviews, they are the research of work many renowned specialists in the field of biomedicine.

Infectious Diseases in an Age of Change brings together an extensive amount of study and research on how the changed human ecological behavior and patterns are affecting the health of our species as a whole. Are we safer than we used to be or are we at greater risk? Have the number of deadly diseases gone down or are their new complications waiting on humanity's threshold? This and many other questions that would be of general interest are answered in the book.

Infectious Diseases in an Age of Change highlights infectious diseases which are a bigger threat now because of the changed and changing environment we are a part of. This books points out major factors that affect and determine the epidemic nature of infectious diseases. For instance the chapter no Lyme disease explains how the epidemic spread over the years and is currently the most common infectious disease in the United States. The disease is spread through bites from ticks which are found on deer. Over the years, while wildlife preservation has been on the rise, the increasing population of deer has also increased the instance of Lyme Disease in northeastern United States. Another problem highlighted by the chapter is the misdiagnosis of other poorly understood conditions as being Lyme disease. The author of the chapter, Allen C. Steere, prescribes a different method of diagnosis an ELISA test. Methods of prevention are prescribed and the reasons why many of the earlier methods were ineffective are also described.

The book also discusses in detail clinical characteristics, transmission, and other aspects. There is a detailed account of major infectious threats--sexually transmitted diseases, Lyme disease, human cytomegalovirus, diarrheal diseases, dengue fever, hepatitis viruses, HIV, and malaria. A detailed chapter is dedicated to the rising threat of drug-resistant strains of tuberculosis, rapid exhaustion of the weapons to fight bacterial infections, and prospects for vaccinations and eradication of pathogens.

The book can be of great help to biomedical students as well as practitioners. As a general reader, you gain a lot of insight into the environment we live in. while at the face of it, it seems humanity has become untouchable by disease, the facts are bitterly contradictory. The dangers of infectious diseases taking on epidemic forms and in urban areas, while most of us generally tend to think it's the rural population that's at a higher risk, are realities that every healthy individual needs to know.

You can read the book for free at http://books.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=4772. It costs around $50 and is available in both hardback form as well as PDF form so you can read it on your computer.

• Felicia Byrnes
• 12/01/2009, 4:59 AM
• 0 Comments