What Does Genital Herpes Look Like?

A Planet of Viruses

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The Invisible Enemy: A Natural History of Viruses

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Here is a compelling scientific account of viruses, their history, and the dangers they pose--now and in the future. Viruses are disarmingly small and simple. Nevertheless, the smallpox virus killed over 300 million people in the twentieth century before it was eradicated in 1980. The AIDS virus, HIV, is now the world's biggest killer infection and the single most common cause of death in Africa. In recent years, the outbreaks of several lethal viruses such as Ebola and Hantavirus have caused great public concern--yet most people remain woefully ill-informed.

In this fascinating new book, Dorothy Crawford explains lucidly and accessibly all aspects of the natural history of these deadly parasites and discusses controversial subjects such as CFS and Gulf War Syndrome. The book considers issues such as how man has coped with viruses in the past, where new viruses come from, and whether it would be possible for a new virus to wipe out the human race. Professor Crawford illustrates her arguments with vivid and wide-ranging examples. The result is an informative and highly readable book, which will be read by all those who seek a deeper understanding of these minute but remarkably efficient killers. Read more...

Though the Berlin Wall has fallen, we find ourselves still struggling with an even older enemy in the eternal Common Cold War. Virologist Dorothy H. Crawford has studied the link between Epstein-Barr virus and human cancer for years, and she casts a wary eye through the electron microscope to check up on them and report on our strange and occasionally deadly symbiosis in The Invisible Enemy.

This slim book, scholarly but accessible, examines these barely living (or unliving, depending on whom you ask) gene packages with a strong emphasis on their disease-causing antics and the intellectual heroics of the various campaigns of eradication and control humans have waged for centuries. Though biological relativists might cringe occasionally at Crawford's dogged humanocentrism, few of them would really pine for the days of smallpox or embrace the raging HIV pandemic if pressed. Crawford looks at the wake of devastation left by these two viruses as well as her own favorite subject, which is strongly implicated in the formation of many cancers. Going a bit farther afield, she explains the weird behavior of the nongenetic reproduction of prions that cause Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease and bovine spongiform encephalopathy; though these scary proteins aren't viruses by any definition, their behavior is similar enough to warrant inclusion. The Invisible Enemy, calmer than its title would suggest, provokes a sense of optimism in the reader. Though the war might last forever, we can hope for fewer and fewer casualties as the years go by. --Rob Lightner Read more...

Viruses, Plagues, and History: Past, Present and Future

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The story of viruses and humanity is a story of fear and ignorance, of grief and heartbreak, and of great bravery and sacrifice. Michael Oldstone tells all these stories as he illuminates the history of the devastating diseases that have tormented humanity, focusing mostly on the most famous viruses.
Oldstone begins with smallpox, polio, and measles. Nearly 300 million people were killed by smallpox in this century alone and the author presents a vivid account of the long campaign to eradicate this lethal killer. Oldstone then describes the fascinating viruses that have captured headlines in more recent years: Ebola, Hantavirus, mad cow disease (a frightening illness made worse by government mishandling and secrecy), and, of course, AIDS. And he tells us of the many scientists watching and waiting even now for the next great plague, monitoring influenza strains to see whether the deadly variant from 1918--a viral strain that killed over 20 million people in 1918-1919--will make a comeback. For this revised edition, Oldstone includes discussions of new viruses like SARS, bird flu, virally caused cancers, chronic wasting disease, and West Nile, and fully updates the original text with new findings on particular viruses.
Viruses, Plagues, and History paints a sweeping portrait of humanity's long-standing conflict with our unseen viral enemies. Oldstone's book is a vivid history of a fascinating field, and a highly reliable dispatch from an eminent researcher on the front line of this ongoing campaign. Read more...

How Pathogenic Viruses Work

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More than 50 viruses can cause human disease, and textbooks are packed with facts about these viruses and the diseases they cause. Indeed, digesting this wealth of information can be daunting both for students and for professors. In How Pathogenic Viruses Work, the author reveals that the key to understanding this complex subject is to recognize that every virus must solve three basic problems: how to reproduce within the cells of its infected host, how to evade host defenses, and how to spread to a new host. Moreover, once the way a virus solves these problems is known, the pathological consequences of the viral infection can be predicted. To demonstrate the power of this approach, the author analyzes a dozen common human viruses, how they solve these problems, and what the resultant pathological consequences are for their human hosts. How Pathogenic Viruses Work offers unique insights into the mind of the virus. But more importantly, this book provides an antidote to information overload by presenting a paradigm for extracting essential information from voluminous virology texts. Read more...