Spillover: Animal Infections and the Next Human Pandemic by David Quammen

Aug 17, 2018 Best Eggs rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 2018-100-reviews, medicine-science, reviewed, travel-adventure-countries, animals-ethology

This book is a very detailed look at zoonoses, diseases that cross from animals to people. If it hadn't been quite so detailed, it would have been a 10 star. What I have learned:

1. There are three sorts of host. There is the reservoir host that the disease resides inand may or may not cause disease. Then there is the amplification host where if the original host infects it, or if a vector (like fleas that carry it) does, it will the disease-causing pathogen will multiply to very large numbers. T This book is a very detailed look at zoonoses, diseases that cross from animals to people. If it hadn't been quite so detailed, it would have been a 10 star. What I have learned:

1. There are three sorts of host. There is the reservoir host that the disease resides inand may or may not cause disease. Then there is the amplification host where if the original host infects it, or if a vector (like fleas that carry it) does, it will the disease-causing pathogen will multiply to very large numbers. Then there is us! We are often the final host.

2. The biggest natural reservoirs of zoonotic diseases are bats. Especially fruit bats and flying foxes. If you touched a rock that an infected bat did, ate some fruit one shit on, or got bit by the dog that the bat got first, you are at risk. Avoid bats at all cost. Very large numbers of vectors are fleas, mosquitos, flies, lice and ticks.

Now it may seem like bats are more dangerous than other creatures because so many carry diseases but it's not necessarily so. 25% of all mammal species are bats, and it's not known if the same percentage of zoonoses as other mammal groups or if they really are dangerous. Bats breed and live in huge numbers and no one minds if they are caught and their blood sampled or even killed for necropsies. Doing that to, say, large numbers of lions, monkeys, elephants or other much-loved mammals is another issue entirely. But they might be as zoonotic pathogen-ridden as bats, we just don't know. So if you like bats (I do) they should be our friends from a distance.

2. Lyme Disease. If you like rambling in the woods where this is present, choose a year when there haven't been many acorns and go to a big wood rather than a little copse. In little copses there may not be many mammals but there will probably be the white-footed mouse which is a reservoir of the disease. In a good acorn year it will breed like crazy, unchecked. In a bad acorn year, there will be less of them and in a big wood there are many predators for whom they are a major food source. Fleas breed on these mice who are not very good at grooming them away. The suck bite the deer as they need the blood to breed (much as mosquitos do on us), but are not really relevant in Lyme Disease as just one deer could supply enough blood for millions of ticks to suck on. It is keeping down the sweet little mice that keeps down Lyme Disease in an area.

3. Zoonoses are in general pretty rare, there are only 150 known ones and they don't cause major epidemics these days although they do cause small, limited but extremely newsworthy outbreaks like Ebola, rabies and dengue. Bubonic plague, the Black Death, is a zoonotic disease that was perhaps the worst disease the world has ever faced. But these days, antibiotics cure it quickly.

I've had dengue. There is no treatment for it and it isn't nicknamed bone break disease for nothing. I moved house with it. Easiest move in my life. I just lay there while all around me packed and moved, then they lifted the mattress into the van and transported me to my new house. By the time i was well enough to walk to the bathroom by myself, everything was spick and span. It was about ten days start to finish. Very nasty.

Very interesting book, I had to skim bits at times because it was as detailed and repetitive as a text book although, mostly, considerably less dry. I learned a lot and for that it's definitely a 5 star read.
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Oct 01, 2012 Tony rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: top-10-2012, science-nature

You have to understand. I have my phobias. So it makes for awkward social encounters. Like: “Mommy,” said the little girl in the elevator, “Why is that man holding his breath the whole way down from the 16th floor?” I have been known to say things like, “Will you please stop sneezing in the direction of my beer?” I went to a doctor’s office a few years ago. Nothing ultimately serious, but possibly so, so that I went for the quickly scheduled appointment even though I was already nursing a bad co ...more

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May 24, 2015 Hannah Greendale rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites, non-fiction, science

Click here to watch a video featuring this book on my channel, From Beginning to Bookend.

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Dec 02, 2014 carol. rated it it was amazing

Recommends it for: fans of diseases, outbreaks, animals, public health, travel

Shelves: non-fiction, medical, science, animals-and-people

https://clsiewert.wordpress.com/2015/...

David Quammen is prescient. He appears to have predicted the 2014 Ebola outbreak and ability to country jump years before it happened. Alright, maybe he isn’t a diviner; maybe he merely pays attention to the scientists around him. After all, there’s a reason he is has been given an Academy Award in Literature and is a three-time winner of the National Magazine Award. Spillover: Animal Infections and the Next Human Pandemic explores the science behind human https://clsiewert.wordpress.com/2015/...

David Quammen is prescient. He appears to have predicted the 2014 Ebola outbreak and ability to country jump years before it happened. Alright, maybe he isn’t a diviner; maybe he merely pays attention to the scientists around him. After all, there’s a reason he is has been given an Academy Award in Literature and is a three-time winner of the National Magazine Award. Spillover: Animal Infections and the Next Human Pandemic explores the science behind human pandemics, and is a culmination of decades-long interest in animals, biology and travel. It is also an intelligent, thoughtful, and occasionally humorous book about the intersection between humans, disease, public health and the animal kingdom.

"Made no mistake; they are connected, these disease outbreaks coming one after another. And they are not simply happening to us; they represent the unintended results of things we are doing. The first crisis is ecological, the second is medical."

The writing is excellent and well-researched, with a list of citations for each chapter. While clearly well versed in biological concepts and the professional scientific field, Quammen writes with an eye to description, creating a liveliness in his stories. When I looked up his biography, it was with no real surprise that I learned he studied William Faulkner on a Rhodes scholarship–like Faulkner, he clearly has a deep love and respect for the natural world. The writing conveys complicated biological concepts in a way that captures the essence without oversimplifying, leaving both the novice and the more knowledgeable reader satisfied. If I have one complaint, it is that the humor present in his short stories isn’t as present; a fitting approach for the somberness of the subject, but I miss it nonetheless. Most of the humor here acknowledges journalistic license but a fair amount relates to the research process:

"If you read the recent scientific literature of disease ecology, which is highly mathematical, and which I do not recommend unless you are deeply interested or troubled with insomnia, you find the basic reproduction rate everywhere."

What takes this book a step beyond the ordinary is that Quammen goes to where the science happens. Interviewing scientists in person, their anecdotes give the research the human touch, and are both instructive and amazing. I found myself deeply wishing my career had taken a different track–but I’m not courageous enough to be a field scientist. The scientists who are looking for the Ebola reservoir are particularly adventuresome: when they collect samples, they do their exploring in full haz-mat gear, including a personal respirator, which leads to interesting challenges. As Quammen summarizes:

"Wait a minute, lemme get this straight: You're in a cave in Uganda, surrounded by Marburg [virus] and rabies and black forest cobras, wading through a slurry of dead bats, getting hit in the face by live ones...the walls are alive with thirsty ticks, and you can hardly breathe, and you can hardly see, and... you've got time to be claustrophobic?'

'Uganda is not famous for its mine rescue teams,' [Amman] said."

Dude. Skydiving and cliff-jumping are for wimps. Trying being a field scientist studying disease.

Just fantastic stuff. If you were ever in doubt about why to get an influenza shot, the information is right here. And why you should be very, very careful about what you eat, particularly game and bushmeat.

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Specific chapter summaries and key points continued at the blog--- just follow under the asterisks
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Jan 29, 2015 HBalikov rated it it was amazing

"A zoonosis is an animal infection transmissible to humans. There are more such diseases than you might expect. AIDS is one. Influenza is a whole category of others. Pondering them as a group tends to reaffirm the old Darwinian truth (the darkest of his truths, well known and persistently forgotten) that humanity IS a kind of animal, inextricably connected with other animals; in origin and in descent, in sickness and in health." This is what David Quammen preaches in Spillover: Animal Infections "A zoonosis is an animal infection transmissible to humans. There are more such diseases than you might expect. AIDS is one. Influenza is a whole category of others. Pondering them as a group tends to reaffirm the old Darwinian truth (the darkest of his truths, well known and persistently forgotten) that humanity IS a kind of animal, inextricably connected with other animals; in origin and in descent, in sickness and in health." This is what David Quammen preaches in Spillover: Animal Infections and the Next Human Pandemic. Some have already given him credit for predicting the recent Ebola outbreak. If this sounds unappealing, it's my fault. Quammen is a researcher who writes with style and substance. He isn't the type who stays in his cubicle reviewing journals and online information. He is out in the field with his buddies and compatriots giving us a front line perspective on this serious issue.

To say this was an eye-opener for me probably understates its impact. I now think I know that every disease must have a reservoir. Smallpox basically resides in humans and is transmitted only among humans. Other diseases have either living or non-living reservoirs. Tetanus comes from a bacterium that resides in the soil. Cholera comes from a bacterium that resides in contaminated water. "A disease must have a portal of exit from the reservoir and a portal of entry into the host. This is how diseases are spread and new cases of infection occur. Examples of portals of exit are respiratory, the digestive tract, urinary, skin," etc. "Diseases can spread by three different, modes of transmission: contact transmission, vehicle transmission, and vector transmission." Let's remember the title of this book. Quammen is focused on "animal infections and the next human pandemic." A pandemic is an epidemic of infectious disease that has spread through human populations across a large region; for instance multiple continents, or even worldwide.

Quammen points out (and I am surprised as usual) that zoonosis isn't rare. In fact, "about 60 percent of all human infectious diseases currently known either cross routinely or have recently crossed between other animals and us...Ebola...bubonic plague...Spanish influenza...bovine tuberculosis, Lyme disease, West Nile fever...rabies, hanta virus pulmonary syndrome, antharx"...etc.

A lot of this book reads like a mystery. Some one or some thing has died unexpectedly and there is no immediate explanation for it. Quammen takes us along on these investigations. I came to like and respect this writer. He admires good science and points out with disdain efforts that fall short. His writing is intimate, filled with humor (often dark), and engaging.

"Most people aren't familiar with the word 'zoonotic,' but they have heard of SARS, they have heard of West Nile virus, they have heard of bird flu. They know someone who has suffered through Lyme disease and someone else who has died of AIDS. They have heard of Ebola, and they know that it's a very terrifying thing (though they may confuse it with E. coli, the bacterium that can kill you if you eat the wrong spinach). They are concerned. They are vaguely aware. But they don't have the time or the interest to consider a lot of scientific detail. I can say from experience that some people, if they hear you're writing a book about such things---about scary emerging diseases, about killer viruses, about pandemics---want you to cut to the chase. So they ask: 'Are we all gonna die?" I have made it my little policy to say yes."

Quammen is on the lookout for the "Next Big One." Some say his discussion of Ebola gives him a lot of "street cred." He states that few disagree that that Next Big One will be zoonotic. So it behooves us to understand what he is talking about. It's a longish book, but you can get a lot out of a little at a time.

I will leave you with a sample of how he passes on advice: " If your husband catches an ebola virus, give him food and water and love and maybe prayers but keep your distance, wait patiently, hope for the best — and, if he dies, don’t clean out his bowels by hand. Better to step back, blow a kiss and burn the hut.” ...more

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May 01, 2018 Max rated it really liked it

Shelves: biology

Quamman explores zoonotic diseases, infectious diseases caused by pathogens that “spillover” from animals to man. The pathogen may be a virus, bacteria or parasite. Zoonotic diseases include well known ones like Ebola, Lyme disease, SARS, and AIDS, lesser known ones like Hendra virus, Marburg virus and Q fever, and ones just being recognized as zoonotic such as some forms of malaria. Zoonotic diseases require a reservoir animal, an animal that sustains the virus without serious complications. Re Quamman explores zoonotic diseases, infectious diseases caused by pathogens that “spillover” from animals to man. The pathogen may be a virus, bacteria or parasite. Zoonotic diseases include well known ones like Ebola, Lyme disease, SARS, and AIDS, lesser known ones like Hendra virus, Marburg virus and Q fever, and ones just being recognized as zoonotic such as some forms of malaria. Zoonotic diseases require a reservoir animal, an animal that sustains the virus without serious complications. Reservoir animals feed a cycle of epidemics. The virus can be eliminated from all humans and still come back. Non-zoonotic infectious diseases like polio, smallpox and measles can be eradicated once the pathogen is eliminated from every human. Some non-zoonotic diseases may have originally jumped from an animal, for example measles from goats or sheep.

Zoonotic diseases may require a vector like a mosquito. A pathogen may jump from a bat or monkey to a human and then from human to human. Or it may jump to an intermediate animal that reproduces it in large quantities sufficient to infect humans. The reservoir animals for the Hendra virus are fruit bats, which pass it to horses, which are “amplifier” animals that pass it to humans. Fruit bats are suspected as the reservoir animal for Ebola. Gorillas and chimpanzees are susceptible to Ebola just like humans and many thousands have died from it. Outbreaks in humans have been caused by eating infected gorilla and chimpanzee meat.

It is important to consider the ecosystem of the animals and organisms involved in spreading infection. Lyme disease is a good example. Deer ticks infect humans and deer are often blamed as the reservoir but they are not. Adult ticks that feed off deer and humans fall off never to bite again. Both humans and deer are dead ends. They don’t spread the disease. Larval ticks feed off of small mammals such as shrews, chipmunks and particularly mice which are the reservoir animals for the Lyme disease bacterium. Larval ticks become infected from animals that have been bitten by infected nymphal ticks. To control the spread of the disease culling deer won’t work, the mice must be controlled, a near impossible task. The best way would be to encourage natural predators such as owls, foxes, weasels and the like. Unfortunately, woodlands today have been divided into ever smaller patches that don’t support these carnivores.

Zoonotic pathogens can be parasites, bacteria, DNA viruses or RNA viruses. RNA viruses like the flu, West Nile, Hendra, HIV and Ebola can quickly mutate turning into new infectious agents. Flu viruses are especially prone to reassortment, a process in which viruses of different subtypes exchange components creating new subtypes. Thus we regularly see new versions of the flu. Retroviruses like HIV are particularly sinister. HIV uses the invaded cell to turn its RNA into DNA which it inserts into the host cell’s DNA, producing more viruses and replicating every time the cell divides. There are a dozen variants of HIV in humans and each is believed to be the result of a separate spillover. Thus the Simian virus, SIV, spills over regularly to the human virus, HIV. While only the main variant of HIV is responsible for most deaths, a new dangerous one could cross over anytime. In contrast DNA viruses such as herpes viruses (only some zoonotic) self-correct errors in replication and have larger genomes. They cannot mutate so quickly and must be persistent in order to sustain themselves. A great example is the chickenpox virus (not zoonotic) that infects children causing an itchy rash. The virus remains after the rash is gone and ramps up late in life causing shingles. Transmission methods for viruses and other pathogens include airborne, oral-fecal (water and food contamination), blood-borne, sexual, vertical (mother to child), or the bite of an animal.

Modern animal husbandry densely packs large numbers of animals in close confinement. For example in the Netherlands dairy goats are housed in huge barns holding thousands of animals creating perfect conditions for the bacteria causing Q fever to grow. Q fever bacteria were spread everywhere when the infected manure was used to fertilize crops. When the fields dried out the wind picked up the loose soil. People downwind breathed in dust full of the highly contagious and lethal bacteria. SARS was spread in China from the markets that sold wild animals (some raised on farms) for food. The animals were crammed together and not cared for by the marketers. These conditions undermine their immune systems making it easier for the virus that had been held in check to spread. Another example is parrot fever carried particularly by parakeets and cockatoos that many breeders keep in close dirty confines allowing latent infections to erupt.

Statistical analysis can reveal the requirements for an epidemic. There must be a critical mass, a sufficient number of susceptible individuals in sufficient density. Then a virulent pathogen will quickly spread. But those who die and those who recover (now immune) are no longer susceptible. When the number and density of those susceptible falls too low the epidemic is over until the susceptible population is replenished, an endless cycle. Concentration and number of pathogens and their infection rate also have required parameters, different for each disease. A good analysis of these factors can predict which measures to control the outbreak will work and which won’t.

Quammen’s book consists largely of descriptions of outbreaks, each crafted as a detective story. People get sick, die and nobody understands it. Tenacious doctors, veterinarians and scientists come to investigate. Some work in labs identifying the pathogen. Others track the associations of the victims. Still others figure where to look for animal hosts, collect samples and get them to the labs. Quammen embellishes these stories with frightening descriptions of the disease spread and the victim’s plight. He details the many hurdles the investigators must overcome. Their aim is prevention. Too often there is little that can be done for the victims. After typically years of work and false leads they identify the reservoir animal and the means of transmission. It is a repetitive story and one doomed to repeat time and again.

As human population expands and encroaches on natural environments and as wild species adapt to human presence and expand into human habitat, we will see evermore spillover. The increasing number and density of both people and the animals they eat favor the spread of zoonotic diseases. Poor countries with limited resources are particularly prone to epidemics. Wherever disease breaks out, modern day frequent travel and extensive global supply chains can quickly spread it to distant locations. Quammen expresses particular concern about the flu virus given its ability to reassort potentially mixing highly infectious and lethal subtypes. But whether flu, HIV or something new we can be sure we will be facing many more epidemics. The good news is that modern science gives us many tools to contain these outbreaks. However, the current wave of science bashing, nationalism, politicizing and underfunding government agencies is troubling. We need the institutions defending us against communicable diseases such as the CDC and its counterparts to have the resources, science based direction and international cooperation that are essential to be vigilant and responsive. ...more

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Oct 10, 2012 Russ rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Full disclosure first, I'm a fan of this type of non-fiction. Laurie Garret - The Coming Plague, Richard Preston - The Hot Zone, Randy Shilts - And the Band Played On... the list goes on and on. I love this stuff. But having said that, this is truly the best thing I've ever read on the subject of infectious agents spilling over from their host species into humans. Brilliant, readable and absolutely spell-binding, Quammen's description of mutation, illness and the effect of human encroachment int ...more

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Aug 18, 2012 Linda rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: first-reads

Disclamer: I received this book from the Goodreads First Reads Giveaway program.

I'm very grateful that I did. I happen to be a physician, specializing in Public Health and Preventive Medicine. I work in an environment where epidemiology underlies everything I do. Therefore, I feel that I can give an especially educated evaluation of this book.

The first thing I would like to comment on is the cover. It's an eye-catching blurred photograph of a screaming mandrill. Everywhere I carried the book (wh Disclamer: I received this book from the Goodreads First Reads Giveaway program.

I'm very grateful that I did. I happen to be a physician, specializing in Public Health and Preventive Medicine. I work in an environment where epidemiology underlies everything I do. Therefore, I feel that I can give an especially educated evaluation of this book.

The first thing I would like to comment on is the cover. It's an eye-catching blurred photograph of a screaming mandrill. Everywhere I carried the book (which is everywhere at work; I could not put it down) people looked at it and asked me what I was reading. Beautiful and suitable, the artwork sets the stage for the gripping narratives contained within.

This is a book written for the intellectually curious. Quammen, as a journalist, understands that some of the material covered in this book can be esoteric for those not trained in the subject. He explains complex subjects clearly, and this is the important part, does not condescend or dumb it down. This makes the content accessible to everyone who may be interested, and the material is fascinating.

As a public health physician, I thought I was fairly well-informed on the subject of zoonoses. I was delighted to find that this book is chock full of new, up-to-date information, and I had never even heard of some of the diseases he discussed. For example, I had though the reservoir for SARS was the civet cat. I had no idea that it was...well, you have to read the book. This book is as gripping and suspenseful as any thriller or mystery, and more terrifying, to boot, since this is non-fiction. As I am typing this, Hanta virus is affecting visitors to Yosemite National Park, Ebola is breaking out in Uganda and The Congo, and who knows what other mystery illnesses have yet to be identified and are lurking for the opportunity to breakout into the greater population.

David Quammen has a delightfully sardonic sense of humor, and as he spins his tales, backed with a tremendous amount of field work on his part, one feels as if they are right there in the field with him and the researchers collecting bat piss (yes, really) or strolling the Hong Kong markets, or munching on Bamboo Rat hot-pot (apparently mild and sweet, quite tasty).

I found myself reading the book like a good, no, excellent, novel. Normally with non-fiction, I pick it up and put it down in spurts. This book is so engrossing, though, that I found myself even walking down the street from the train station to work while reading this (a substantial hardcover, mind you). Quite a few of my co-workers want to read it, particularly the epidemiologists and physicians, but please don't hold back if you haven't got the background. This book is written so as to be accessible to anyone who has the interest. Everyone should be interested. The next big outbreak is inevitable because of human manipulation of climate, habitat and overcrowded conditions and intrusions into the wild, bringing us more and more in contact with potential pathogens. This book is a sobering look at the changing conditions in the world and how they leave us very, very vulnerable. This is easily the most frightening book I have read in a long, long time. Thank you, David for the work of love that produced this.

Note for Goodreads: the page count is wrong; please correct it. The correct page number is 520 pages of text, plus a long reference section. ...more

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Sep 28, 2013 David rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Recommended to David by: Tony

Shelves: biology, ecology, evolution, science

A "spillover" occurs when a microbe crosses over from an animal to humans, as an infectious disease. David Quammen describes many examples of this: SARS, ebola, HIV, influenza, marburg and hendra.

Each chapter is a detective story--scientists, veterinarians and medical researchers are detectives searching for the source of a disease. The source is usually a reservoir--an animal that carries the microbe, but is not usually harmed by the microbe.

And--now here's the best part--Quammen is not a stay A "spillover" occurs when a microbe crosses over from an animal to humans, as an infectious disease. David Quammen describes many examples of this: SARS, ebola, HIV, influenza, marburg and hendra.

Each chapter is a detective story--scientists, veterinarians and medical researchers are detectives searching for the source of a disease. The source is usually a reservoir--an animal that carries the microbe, but is not usually harmed by the microbe.

And--now here's the best part--Quammen is not a stay-at-home researcher. He visits the scientists and interviews them over extended periods of time. And better yet--he accompanies scientists on research expeditions all over the world, in search of the reservoirs for terrible diseases. Quammen describes, in detail, what it is like to hunt for elusive viruses in bats, chimpanzees, monkeys, and horses. Often, the researchers must take special precautions to avoid being infected themselves. Sometimes these precautions fail, with awful consequences.

Quammen investigates why spillovers occur when and where they do. It's a combination of ecology and evolution. A microbe is carried by an animal reservoir, and usually in equilibrium where the animal is unharmed. Then, some dramatic change to the environment occurs, usually it is caused by humans impinging on the local ecology. The microbe mutates and jumps either to a vector (like a mosquito or a rat) or directly to a human. Further mutations then allow the microbe to jump from one human to another, causing an epidemic.

Researchers agree that in the future, there will be lethal epidemics like AIDS and the influenza pandemic of 1918. Such epidemics are totally unpredictable, because of the diversity of human behavior.

David Quammen is an excellent writer--he has a wonderful style. It is obvious from his enthusiasm and from his extensive travels, that this book represents his life-long efforts. Spillover is a sequence of detective mysteries and adventure stories, all rolled up into one. I highly recommend it!
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Dec 07, 2012 Rebecca rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: science-tech, current-events, reviewed-for-nudge, nature

(4.5) This exposé of zoonoses (diseases passed from animals to humans) is top-notch scientific journalism: pacey, well-structured and entirely gripping. Although it’s a rather sobering topic, this is not scare-mongering for the sake of it; indeed, Quammen frankly concludes that we are much more likely to die of heart disease or fatal car crashes: “Yes, we are all gonna die. Yes. We are all gonna pay taxes and we are all gonna die. Most of us, though, will probably die of something much more mund ...more

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Dec 04, 2012 Parker F rated it liked it · review of another edition

This book was an exciting and informative tour of zoonotic diseases, but the fragmented style diminished my enjoyment. Quammen practices an annoying form of gonzo journalism in which he needlessly inserts himself into the narrative because he is too lazy to do otherwise.

There are numerous throwaway chapters that are included for no other reason than because Quammen made a trip or did the interview. For instance, many pages are devoted to the unenlightening tale of a scientist who accidentally p This book was an exciting and informative tour of zoonotic diseases, but the fragmented style diminished my enjoyment. Quammen practices an annoying form of gonzo journalism in which he needlessly inserts himself into the narrative because he is too lazy to do otherwise.

There are numerous throwaway chapters that are included for no other reason than because Quammen made a trip or did the interview. For instance, many pages are devoted to the unenlightening tale of a scientist who accidentally pricks herself with an Ebola-carrying needle. We learn of this woman's childhood, educational background, family life, the cleanliness of her home, etc. We learn of the boredom of her long quarantine and how she and her friends shared unfunny jokes via email about how her quarantine diet is high calorie. One may think that Quammen is building up to some sort of cliffhanger in which this poor woman ends up showing Ebola symptoms, but it is clear from the start (as he describes his visit to her house and the interview) that this didn't happen. This whole ordeal could have been omitted or replaced with one sentence, but Quammen must feel that every interview he conducts deserves many pages of text. (After a few minutes of reflection, I now realize the author's intent with this Ebola-quarantine section. He is de-sensationalizing Ebola by telling a tale of potential laboratory-borne infection completely lacking any excitement or exploding bodies, in stark contrast to THE HOT ZONE.)

While these aren't direct quotes, the book is strewn with needless editorializing along the lines of "I think the guy who first discovered the cause of malaria is one cool dude," and there are way too many one word sentences like "Boring" or "Neato." Seriously.

Worst of all, near the end of the book Quammen takes a novelistic turn and tells an entirely fictional account of a patient zero carrying AIDS from the jungle of central Africa into the city. While this perhaps is demonstrating a plausible scenario for the first cases of human to human transmission of the virus, the level of trivial detail is infuriating. Should we applaud Quammen for so humanizing his fictional character and eagerly await the publication of his first novel? Or should we be upset that so many pages of a 700 page book are wasted on an Introduction-to-Creative-Writing-quality novella?

Nonetheless, most of the book is enthralling. But I dread the approaching day in which all journalistic nonfiction will be told in this short-attention-span, MTV-News-inspired format. ...more

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Nov 20, 2013 Clouds rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: cup-of-tea, science, read-in-2014, reviewed, 5-star

Pure class from beginning to end - the best science journalism I've read.

It was completely coincidental that I read this just before the 2014 Ebola outbreak... but that did sort of reinforce why this is essential reading!

Plenty of other goodreads reviews have given superb summaries of the content of the novel, so I'll only touch on that briefly - but here's why I personally loved it:

I originally put this on my long-list as research reading. There's a novel I want to write (one day!) that is set ...more

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Nov 14, 2012 Elizabeth rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction, nature-science, journalism

Is it possible to "really like" a book like this? I think I may have shortchanged this book with the three star rating. Hmmm.

But I digress.

It is official- I now know too much. Most of us have probably spent some amount of time thinking about a pandemic. How could we not? Reading this book will not ease said fears. It is unsettling to read how easy it is for an infection to *spillover* (sorry) from animal to human. This book reveals just how easy it is and gives you enough information to scare t ...more

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May 27, 2014 Nikki rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction, science-fact

I found this book fascinating. When I originally got it out of the library, some of my friends were a biiiit concerned that given my GAD was health-focused, this would just make me have a panic attack. I'm happy to report that I was simply happily curious, digging around with great enthusiasm, stopping to google things, etc.

In terms of the level this is at, it's perfectly comprehensible to anyone, I would say. Granted, I do have a background in reading plenty of popular science, an A Level in bi I found this book fascinating. When I originally got it out of the library, some of my friends were a biiiit concerned that given my GAD was health-focused, this would just make me have a panic attack. I'm happy to report that I was simply happily curious, digging around with great enthusiasm, stopping to google things, etc.

In terms of the level this is at, it's perfectly comprehensible to anyone, I would say. Granted, I do have a background in reading plenty of popular science, an A Level in biology, and various science/medical courses online, but I don't think that puts me much above the layman, really. Where something needs explaining, Quammen does so quite clearly. (Although if you do find this fascinating but a bit dense for you, this course on Coursera might be worth a look the next time it runs. I enjoyed it, anyway.)

So, granted I already find this topic fascinating, but I think this was a good read. It avoided sensationalism, aside from the couple of chapters where Quammen imagined the life of the Cut Hunter from the cut-hunter theory of the origin of HIV, which were a little much for me. That goes beyond adding a bit of human interest into a flight of fancy, which jars with the rest of the book. If you want to think delightedly of Ebola victims as being a sack of liquefied matter, I gather you want to read The Hot Zone (Richard Preston).

It's well-structured, taking us through various different zoonotic pathogens and their implications. The search for the "Next Big One" (the next pandemic) isn't the primary focus, despite the title, and instead Quammen focuses on how the diseases are tracked, particularly how they are tracked to the reservoir species that safely harbour the pathogens until they spill over into other species. It's not hysterical about the fact that there will be another pandemic, but treats it in a matter of fact way. Of course there'll be another pandemic: we're overcrowded, highly connected, highly social, and fairly careless.

I know there are people out there who will be complaining about Quammen's bias when he notes that we are, to a great extent, making the problem worse. We destroy habitats, bring animals into closer contact with us, and thus bring ourselves into closer contact with their pathogens, which may spill over into humans. Not biased, and not hard to understand, just a fact. ...more

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Oct 14, 2012 Molly rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Thrilled to see that David Quammen had a new science book, I snatched this up. It’s been 15 years since his book "Song of the Dodo” about island biogeography, which remains at the top of my favorite non-fiction.

Can one *enjoy* a book about infectious disease? Anyone who's read Richard Preston's “The Hot Zone” will guiltily admit, yes (interestingly, he takes Preston to task for overplaying descriptions of Ebola infection. “Bleeding out" is not accurate.)

There is inherent narrative drama in the ...more

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Apr 24, 2015 Sebastien rated it it was amazing

Shelves: all-time-favorites

Superb! David Quammen brings to life the stories of a wide variety of infectious diseases and their spillover from animals to humans. David is a great writer, his narrative drive and prose are magnificent. He does this while presenting the science in a very accessible yet amazingly informative way.

What is astounding is the amount of work and research that must have gone into this book. David conducted a seemingly endless amount of interviews with scientists, researchers, doctors. To say he took ...more

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Oct 27, 2016 Arun Divakar rated it really liked it

The hubris of homo sapiens lies in believing that it holds sway over this planet but then hidden away from anything but the most powerful electron microscopes are organisms that can wreak havoc on all of us. These microorganisms are hardy, smart and incredibly adaptable when it comes to the question of how to survive and thrive among the biodiversity of the earth. If you were to romanticize the whole concept then it becomes very easy to paint the pathogen as the most dreaded enemy of mankind/ na The hubris of homo sapiens lies in believing that it holds sway over this planet but then hidden away from anything but the most powerful electron microscopes are organisms that can wreak havoc on all of us. These microorganisms are hardy, smart and incredibly adaptable when it comes to the question of how to survive and thrive among the biodiversity of the earth. If you were to romanticize the whole concept then it becomes very easy to paint the pathogen as the most dreaded enemy of mankind/ nature’s revenge on us etc. However, a rational perspective tells a story which is entirely different and utterly fascinating in a deadly way. The microorganism’s capability to jump across species to man and thereby begin devastating outbreaks is the premise of the book and the scientific term for such a happening is Zoonosis. In the words of the author about the need of such a book :

Why obsess about Zoonoses ? In the larger balance of miseries, what makes anyone think they should be taken so seriously ?

It’s a fair question but there are good answers. Some of those answers are intricate and speculative. Some are subjective. Others are objective and blunt. The bluntest is this : AIDS.

Let’s look at some zoonotic diseases other than AIDS : Ebola, Marburg, Avian and Swine Flu, SARS, Malaria, Hendra are but a few of them. All of these are without doubt some of the deadliest killer that we have encountered. David Quammen does a book length investigation into the history, nature and where we stand in the understanding of the microorganisms which cause these diseases. Quammen’s writing style is approachable and far less sensational than what I encountered with Richard Preston’s Hot Zone. While Preston horrified and thrilled me, Quammen offers a more informative and grounded view at the pathogens and their effects. He also travels far and wide for his research and converses with recovered patients, eyewitnesses, doctors and scientists and ergo a much more well-rounded view of what actually transpires during a disease outbreak comes to light. Of special mention is the chapter named The Chimp and River which is an in depth detective story that traces the journey of HIV from the jungles of Africa into the world at large.

There are two things about the book that really caught my attention :

• The number of mice and monkeys that die in the name of betterment and advancement of science in this book is huge. There were times when I paused and wondered if more of these hapless animals perish than humans.

• Quammen is a first rate travel writer. His descriptions of Asia and Africa are measured views of anthropology, wildlife and the inevitable clash between the two.

Parts of the book especially on the mathematical connects between the nature of mass outbreaks and about the lifecycles of viruses were difficult to comprehend. But that aside this is a fantastic book to understand how much nature has in store which man has no idea of. It also corrected for me the notion that nature uses viruses to eventually get back at humans ( courtesy Richard Preston). A virus is a non-thinking organism and one for which in a majority of the cases, a human host is next to an evolutionary dead end. It just so happens that with our invasive lifestyle, we breach the habitats of the virus and get caught in their snares.

Recommended. ...more

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Oct 22, 2012 Kaethe Douglas rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: colonization, history, science, humor, nonfiction, africa, animals, asia, australia, usa

This is a book about zoonoses, diseases that come to humans from other animals. It is scary, sure, because there are always new microbes out there ready to go rampaging through our vast society. It is also rather comforting, both the methodical search for vectors and reservoirs, the details of transmission and treatment, the stream of breakthroughs that enable researchers to locate and sequence. And through it all, Quammen maintains a casual, light conversational tone, reassuring the reader that ...more

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Nov 09, 2018 Anna rated it it was amazing

Recommended to Anna by: carol.

Shelves: 2018-aty-in-52-books, favourites-in-2018, science

This is informative, interesting and entertaining. Parts of it read as a detective story, as the author describes the quest to identify pathogens, and the routes that can lead those pathogens to cause human disease. The approach encompasses the ecological as well as the evolutionary factors that lead to zoonotic diseases.
As I read, I took copious quotes from every chapter. As David Quammen says it much better than I can, I am going to copy some of them here. I will use spoiler tags for my summar ...more

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Nov 07, 2012 Mal Warwick rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: nonfiction

Where Do "Emerging Diseases" Emerge From?

AIDS, Ebola, Marburg, SARS, H5N1 — every one of the world’s scariest diseases is a “zoonosis,” that is, a virus harbored by animals and transmitted to humans, often by other animals, in a complex minuet that often stretches out into decades.

AIDS, for example. According to the latest research, reported by David Quammen in Spillover, Patient Zero was not that French-Canadian flight attendant you may have read about who went amok in the 1970s but a hunter in Where Do "Emerging Diseases" Emerge From?

AIDS, Ebola, Marburg, SARS, H5N1 — every one of the world’s scariest diseases is a “zoonosis,” that is, a virus harbored by animals and transmitted to humans, often by other animals, in a complex minuet that often stretches out into decades.

AIDS, for example. According to the latest research, reported by David Quammen in Spillover, Patient Zero was not that French-Canadian flight attendant you may have read about who went amok in the 1970s but a hunter in Southeast Cameroon around 1908 who killed a chimpanzee and somehow unwittingly allowed the animal’s blood to seep into his own circulatory system, either through a cut or by eating his prey’s raw flesh. This is the phenomenon that epidemiologists call “spillover.” At that point, a particularly virulent form of a recently emergent simian virus found a friendly and familiar environment in the hunter’s blood and flourished, becoming what we know today as HIV-1 (the more lethal form of the virus that causes AIDS). Later, the hunter passed along the virus to one or more women through sexual contact, and the disease slowly spread, both by sex and by transmission through reused needles, undetected as anything out of the ordinary, from Cameroon into what is now called the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, and other sub-Saharan countries, and thence by happenstance to Haiti. It was a Haitian harboring HIV-1 who probably passed it along to that notorious Canadian flight attendant, setting off the epidemic among gay men in North America.

In Spillover, Quammen tells tales like these in fascinating detail, relating the stories of the often-heroic scientists, physicians, and veterinarians who worked directly with deadly diseases, occasionally at the cost of their own lives. Quammen spent years writing this book. He appears to have read all the relevant scientific literature, attended specialized scientific conferences, and spent long hours tracking down and speaking face-to-face with the people who discovered these diseases, isolated the viruses, first treated the symptoms, and labored for thankless years on end in laboratories around the world to help humanity avert the next pandemic.

You may have read Richard Preston’s best-selling 2001 treatment of the emergence of Ebola in The Hot Zone. If not, I can tell you that I vividly recall the book because it was so dramatic, and so terrifying. No doubt I had nightmares about contracting Ebola. But it turns out, according to Quammen and to the eminent scientists he interviewed, that Preston’s account was sensationalized and highly inaccurate in essential details. For example, he described tears of blood, massive hemorrhages, and melted internal organs, none of which has any basis in fact.

However, Spillover, in its own way, is no less frightening. Quammen advances the popular theory that what appears to be the accelerating emergence of dangerous new pathogens became inevitable as a result of the enormous population growth of homo sapiens — because humanity has increasingly encroached on animal habitat and come into intimate contact with animals as never before. In discussions with noted biologists, he explores the concept of “breakout,” the explosive growth frequently seen in some animal species that shortly leads to sudden, catastrophic — through disease. He intimates that, with AIDS — or, all too possibly, with the next pandemic — humankind may experience something similar. Despite all the horrific details about AIDS, Ebola, Marburg, and the like, these are the book’s scariest passages.

David Quammen writes about science, nature, and travel — a total of 10 nonfiction books and five novels to date. A former Rhodes Scholar, he was educated at Yale and Oxford.

(From www.malwarwickonbooks.com) ...more

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Apr 14, 2013 Jafar rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

I try not to read books that make me paranoid or hypochondriac — and that's not the intention of this book — but I'll think twice next time that I'm in some exotic place and close to wild animals. The Monkey Forest in Bali was mentioned in this book in relation to herpes B (a deadly disease caused by a spillover from macaques monkeys to humans). Thanks goodness I feel a visceral revulsion towards monkeys. I didn't hand-feed any or let them climb up my head and shoulders so that I can take a pict ...more

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Jan 28, 2016 Charlene rated it it was amazing

Recommended to Charlene by: Shannan

Shelves: evolution, favorites, medicine, non-fiction-inequality, biology, chaos-complexity-emergence, mindgasms, ecology, general-science, innovation

From start to finish, this book was nothing short of SPECTACULAR! It is longer than most science/ medicine books, but do not let that deter you. I was extremely sad when this book ended. I wanted more!

In the middle of reading this book, I made the mistake of putting this book on pause to read the more recent Pandemic by Sonia Shah. Science is obviously not the authors strong suit. It was extremely disappointing. It might fly with people who are less scientifically literate. She had more up to da ...more

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Nov 16, 2018 Emma Sea rated it it was amazing

Shelves: non-fiction, sciencey-science, pn-library

Absolutely splendid. The very best kind of science writing. And Quammen sure knows how to leave his readers with a gripping hook for the next-but-one chapter, which kept me eagerly whipping through all 500+ pages.

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Nov 25, 2017 Annie rated it really liked it

First things first. I hate when I look at a nonfiction book table of contents and can’t tell by the name of the chapters what they cover. For those who feel the same, here is the annotated table of contents:

I. Pale Horse (Hendra virus)
II. Thirteen Gorillas (Ebola virus)
III. Everything Comes From Somewhere (Malaria)
IV. Dinner at the Rat Farm (SARS)
V. The Deer, the Parrot, & the Kid Next Door (Q Fever, Psittacosis, and Lyme disease)
VI. Going Viral (General Virus Stuff, but Especially HIV)
VII.

First things first. I hate when I look at a nonfiction book table of contents and can’t tell by the name of the chapters what they cover. For those who feel the same, here is the annotated table of contents:

I. Pale Horse (Hendra virus)
II. Thirteen Gorillas (Ebola virus)
III. Everything Comes From Somewhere (Malaria)
IV. Dinner at the Rat Farm (SARS)
V. The Deer, the Parrot, & the Kid Next Door (Q Fever, Psittacosis, and Lyme disease)
VI. Going Viral (General Virus Stuff, but Especially HIV)
VII. Celestial Hosts (About Animals That Transmit Disease, Especially Bats, and Also Focuses on the Nipah virus)
VIII. The Chimp and The River (HIV)
IX. It Depends (Viruses of the Future)

Onto the review.

I wasn’t thinking about it when I snagged it at the library, but this was the perfect book to follow up The Hot Zone (and, in fact, this book references that one). That was a concentrated, focused look at one distinct family of viruses, the filoviruses. It was also more dramatized.

This one takes that zoomed-in look and contextualizes it. Reminds us that 60% of all infections diseases that affect humans come from animals via zoonosis. Ebola, Marburg (the stars of The Hot Zone), rabies, hantavirus, anthrax, Lassa, Rift Valley fever, yellow fever, dengue, west nile, sars, typhus, mad cow disease, all forms of influenza, bubonic plague, Lyme disease, AIDS, and countless more. The author also points out something interesting- the diseases we’ve mostly eradicated, like smallpox and polio, are the rare ones that aren’t passed to humans by animals. That’s why we were able to eradicate them. People are easier to keep track of and vaccinate than animals. Nowhere for them to hide. Whereas Marburg or Ebola can lurk forever in hidden corners of caves, immortal.

And why are these diseases popping up now? Practically all of these zoonotic (species-hopping) diseases are new. Like, zoonotic diseases barely existed at all before the 1960s, after which they started popping up everywhere in myriad forms. Why?

Because we’re tearing apart ecosystems, breaking down the natural fabric of things, spreading ourselves where we ought not be a-spreadin’. These diseases had their natural hosts. They didn’t kill the hosts, they mostly lived in harmony with the host in some remote corner of the world. But when we wreck that natural host’s home and kill lots of them off, what’s a virus to do but to jump ship and latch onto humans if it wants to survive?

Finally, I’d like to thank David Quammen for summarizing my feelings on life nicely:

“Mathematics to me is like a language I don’t speak, though I admire its literature in translation.” ...more

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Dec 23, 2014 Becky rated it it was amazing

I see why Quammen is so well thought of. Spillover was amazingly informative, had a near perfect execution, explained very difficult, scientific subjects in a manner that a reader with little science background could understand without making it so dumbed down that the same reader found themselves lost in a nexus of weakening metaphors and feeling insulted (I'm looking at you, Winchester). This is how you speak to your audience! You do not dumbdown, but rather heighten the discourse and inform. I see why Quammen is so well thought of. Spillover was amazingly informative, had a near perfect execution, explained very difficult, scientific subjects in a manner that a reader with little science background could understand without making it so dumbed down that the same reader found themselves lost in a nexus of weakening metaphors and feeling insulted (I'm looking at you, Winchester). This is how you speak to your audience! You do not dumbdown, but rather heighten the discourse and inform. I learned so much, and was so in awe of what I was learning, and the research that was done by Quammen, and even more by the researching actively trying to save us from the "Next Big One" that nightly over dinner I'd tell my husband excitedly that he just HAD to read Spillover, because did you know this or that about ebola? Its the only audiobook that I have honestly considered restarting immediately. There is just so much to process here, so much that I realize I just didn't know, and so much more that I could learn from a second reading.

This is a book that I think every person should read. There is as much (if not more) human interest as science, it can honestly keep you on the edge of your seat. I love nature, but it can be such a scary place without considering that maybe you just inhaled infected bat shit or dust from an aborted goat. But its also a beautiful place, where ecology matters, where there is balance, and as the eruption of human population continues (presumably unchecked for now) that balance is disturbed. I cannot stress enough, especially during this election cycle, how important an informed populace is. How can we make decisions in domestic protection, how we raise our livestock, how we tour, how we travel across the globe, how we transport EVERYTHING, how we mine, and how we manufacture if we are not informed of the consequences and the possible dangers of what we are doing. I'm not crazy, I'm not saying lets halt the world, but we need to understand that its not just about global warming, when ecologists are warning us of what we are doing to the planet. We have rapidly interconnected this world in a way that has never before happened. There are risks and benefits to that. Scientists are trying to study and prepare for the next big one, but should the unthinkable happen (its not unthinkable, its more that we refuse to think of it) how are we, as a populace, prepared to respond? We need to consider this.

And, man, wash your hands if you butcher something, okay? ...more

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Nov 20, 2018 Derrick Witness rated it it was amazing

What a frightful but entertaining read!! David Quammen is a brilliant scientist and storyteller all at once. He weaves narrative storytelling and science seamlessly like its the easiest thing ever. That's the source of the overall brilliance of the book. Quammen manages to use his own personal experiences with disease scientists at the centre of the research and others in the thick of things to make the book more entertaining. Billy Karesh studying chimps in Moba Bai, Beatrice Hahn at the heart What a frightful but entertaining read!! David Quammen is a brilliant scientist and storyteller all at once. He weaves narrative storytelling and science seamlessly like its the easiest thing ever. That's the source of the overall brilliance of the book. Quammen manages to use his own personal experiences with disease scientists at the centre of the research and others in the thick of things to make the book more entertaining. Billy Karesh studying chimps in Moba Bai, Beatrice Hahn at the heart of AIDS research, Engel and Jones-Engel a husband and wife team from New York investigating prevalence of a monkey virus in Bangladesh temples, a Chinese scientist searching for the reservoir of SARS, an Australian vet who survived the Hendra virus, etc
The book is basically about how animal diseases jump or spillover into humans. He narrates how these diseases, commonly classified as zoonoses first appeared on the scene and how people react to these diseases in the beginning, how scientific research unfolded and how they escalated into global epidemics in some cases. He also discusses the tiny pathogens responsible and their evolution into killer monsters. He deals with a long list of deadly diseases like Hendra, Ebola, malaria, AIDS, Lyme disease, Q fever, SARS, etc. All dangerous and potentially lethal bugs if not dealt with properly.
A few themes appear throughout the book. One of them is how humans interfere with nature, eat what they are not supposed to or encroach on wild habitats. It's clear we are having more contact with animals, both domestic and wild, and this is one of the reasons why certain diseases have spilled over into humans. And also why in the future probably more lethal pathogens will spill over. As humans, we need to understand the nature of ecosystems better and try not to interfere with wildlife habitats. These diseases have killed millions and millions of people and it's clear that these bugs especially viruses have the upper hand over us and we should be weary of the potential devastation involved. Zoonotic diseases will continue to spill over in future. But how ling before we come across a pathogen capable of annihilating all of humankind? ...more

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Jan 03, 2019 Glen rated it really liked it

Shelves: nonfiction, science

A rather chilling book about how diseases make their way from animals to humans, often with deadly consequences, and nobody really knows why.

Lots of science about diseases, vectors, germs, and all the rest, but the frightening thing is how little we actually know about this sort of thing.

Very educational.

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Nov 08, 2012 Emily rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: medicine, 2012, science

This book is about zoonoses--illnesses that spread from animals to people. It describes the typical process: the virus or bacteria lives, long-term and harmlessly, in a reservoir species. When it infects an amplifier species, it can spread more quickly to humans. For example, the Hendra virus has its reservoir in flying foxes (large Australian bats), but when it infects horses, it can spread to people, who are in much closer contact with their sick horses than with bats.

Not only are zoonoses th This book is about zoonoses--illnesses that spread from animals to people. It describes the typical process: the virus or bacteria lives, long-term and harmlessly, in a reservoir species. When it infects an amplifier species, it can spread more quickly to humans. For example, the Hendra virus has its reservoir in flying foxes (large Australian bats), but when it infects horses, it can spread to people, who are in much closer contact with their sick horses than with bats.

Not only are zoonoses threatening because new ones can appear unexpectedly (like SARS or HIV), they are also essentially impossible to eradicate, unlike (say) polio, which is only found in humans, whom you can vaccinate. Bats come off rather badly in this book. In the past, I've learned that you should like them because they eat harmful insects. It turns out that they are the source of all sorts of nasty bugs, in the virus sense of the word.

Quammen writes quite a bit about his travels to research the book, or how one scientist introduces him to another. Not only does this give the book a bit of a travelogue feeling, it also acknowledges the essential contributions of the people who tranquilize angry macaques or go out in the middle of the night to rig up bat nets--without which none of the science would have happened. His style is vivid and entertaining, though there's one passage in the chapter about HIV/AIDS that is strangely novelistic. Not bad, just incongruous and unnecessary.

Nothing in this book will make you change your behavior, unless you are remiss about handwashing or routinely eat things bats have shat on. At the end the author emphasizes: "The purpose of this book is not to make you more worried. The purpose of this book is to make you more smart. That's what most distinguishes humans from, say, tent caterpillars and gypsy moths. Unlike them, we can be pretty smart." I didn't find this book particularly scary--just informative--so don't avoid it just on those grounds.

To the extent it contains a call to action, the book reminds us that human pressure on ecological systems creates havoc. A relatively short section deals with Lyme disease and reveals the startling conclusion that Lyme flourishes in isolated areas. Think the islands in a parking lot rather than a forest. It's where we come in contact with ecologies that we've disrupted that we find zoonoses.

P.S. Bonus points for sending me to the dictionary: "cadastral."
P.P.S. Further bonus points for this sentence, even if the sentiment isn't new: "[A]nyone who favors Intelligent Design in lieu of evolution might pause to wonder why God devoted so much of His intelligence to designing malarial parasites." ...more

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Oct 10, 2013 Sue rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

This book is a gripping tale of disease “spillover” that will thrill those interested in science – and probably many who aren’t. After all, we all get sick occasionally. Quammen looks at the ways pathogens (usually viruses) have spilled from animals to humans. He traces the origins of, among others, Ebola, SARS, bird flu, Lyme disease, and AIDS. These zoonotic diseases can escalate rapidly into global pandemics when human-to-human transmission occurs.

For five years Quammen trailed scientists in This book is a gripping tale of disease “spillover” that will thrill those interested in science – and probably many who aren’t. After all, we all get sick occasionally. Quammen looks at the ways pathogens (usually viruses) have spilled from animals to humans. He traces the origins of, among others, Ebola, SARS, bird flu, Lyme disease, and AIDS. These zoonotic diseases can escalate rapidly into global pandemics when human-to-human transmission occurs.

For five years Quammen trailed scientists in their labs and in the field. Worldwide exchange of information turns out to be essential in epidemiology, and the solution to mysterious epidemics often means gathering data in far-flung places. Quammen himself traveled to China, to Bangladesh, to the Congo, to Connecticut. Data moves among such places, and so did the author. Everywhere there is mystery, drama, and good science.

A long chapter (more than 20% of the book) traces the origins of HIV to a chimpanzee in Cameroon in the early 20th century. It’s a fascinating story. The author first tracked the evidence, working with scientists as they examined tissue samples that showed the spillover to be not in the 1980s, when the Western world first encountered it, but in the first decade of the 20th century. Quammen then allowed himself to think through a possible scenario which would have brought the virus down river to the Congo, initially moving slowly because its carriers might have died early of other causes, because the virus moved through areas of low population density, because it did not yet have the opportunity afforded by global travel and multiple sex partners.

Ten years ago I had to abort a trip to Vietnam and China because of SARS, so the episode was very personal to me. That dread virus ran a deadly but short course. It turned out that the disease was transmissible after the person became ill, so it was eventually within the power of the health system to halt the spread. But it could reemerge. Civets, a diet delicacy blamed initially for the disease, turned out to be “amplifier” hosts but not “reservoir” hosts. This latter term applies to animals who host and live amicably with a virus which may cause great mischief in humans. For SARS, the reservoir was a bat, the amplifier was a civet, and the human who ate the civet was an unlucky, violently ill person. In fact, the eating of exotic (and often illegal) meats was a persistent theme in the entire book.

As a non-scientist, I’ve possibly gotten a couple of things wrong in this review. Apologies. But I am pretty sure I’m going to be paying attention to the news about epidemics – as well as to, for example, ticks or exotic meats.
...more

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Oct 31, 2014 Matty-Swytla rated it it was amazing

Shelves: non-fiction, chunkster-challenge, author-challenge-2016

A very good bok with scientific, yet approachable explanations to why zoonoses (animal diseases that infect humans) are so scary and deadly, especially when it comes to certain new viruses. The fact is zoonotic viruses and other diseases infect humans on a regular basis. I know; I was infected with ringworm (Dermatophytosis) by my kittens a few years ago - it's a fungal infection that spreads like fire. No fun but no biggie either. But any pet owner knows the drill on vaccinations for rabies and A very good bok with scientific, yet approachable explanations to why zoonoses (animal diseases that infect humans) are so scary and deadly, especially when it comes to certain new viruses. The fact is zoonotic viruses and other diseases infect humans on a regular basis. I know; I was infected with ringworm (Dermatophytosis) by my kittens a few years ago - it's a fungal infection that spreads like fire. No fun but no biggie either. But any pet owner knows the drill on vaccinations for rabies and other diseases for dogs and cats. Some of these make the jump to humans with devastating results.

The differences between carriers, natural reservoirs, and amplifiers is fascinating and illuminating. Some animals only spread viruses, bacteria or other illness-inducing organisms (mosquitoes for malaria); others live with them, a certain population of infected yet not very ill reservoirs from whence other animals and humans can get infected (bats, monkeys); while some animals get very ill and spread the infections further (amplifiers - often some domestic animals like pigs or poultry). It's important to make the distinction bewteen these or we won't know where to fight the disease in the first place.

The book highlights why we should care about natural habitats, treat our animals with care, and not board a plane when feeling sick (!), but it doesn't fear-monger in any way. Yes, it does point out what people should or shouldn't do, what are the risk factors for contracting some exotic diseases, but it also highlights that ordinary diseases kill far more people than ebola, for example. Coronary disease, cancers, diabetes, traffic accidents... familiar killers we've gotten used to don't scare us as they should, while the thought of contracting a virus from a bat makes some people fear them like the plague.

What the author makes clear time and time again is that local farmers in some god-forsaken parts of third-world countries (but in the West as well - not everyone is an epidemiologist or veterinarian) can't understand the full impact of an outbreak among their flock before it spreads. So education is key, and fast response from laboratories, research facilites, and medical institutions. I was amazed how much difference fast cooperation among scientists and medical doctors makes in terms of outbreak containment. Why doesn't the media highlight these achievements more and make people interested in science? What will it take? The next big virus or outbreak is just around the corner - it may be our ordinary flu not ebola. ...more

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Bio-Nerds: Spillover by David Quammen	1	15	Sep 21, 2013 05:27PM
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