Have Bacteria Won? E-Book

Hugh Pennington

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Bildung
• Serie: New Human Frontiers - Polity
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 159

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2015

Beschreibung

Today, we are far less likely to die from infection than at any other time in history, but still we worry about epidemics, the menace of antibiotic resistance and modern 'plagues' like Ebola.

In this timely new book, eminent bacteriologist Hugh Pennington explores why these fears remain and why they are unfounded. He reports on outright victories (such as smallpox), battles where the enemy is on its last stand (polio), surprise attacks from vegetarian bats (Ebola, SARS) and demented cows (BSE). Qualified optimism, he argues, is the message for the future but the battles will go on forever.

Leseprobe

New Human Frontiers series

Harry Collins,

Are We All Scientific Experts Now?

Everett Carl Dolman,

Can Science End War?

Mike Hulme,

Can Science Fix Climate Change?

Hugh Pennington,

Have Bacteria Won?

Copyright page

Copyright © Hugh Pennington 2016

The right of Hugh Pennington to be identified as Author of this Work has been asserted in accordance with the UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

First published in 2016 by Polity Press

Polity Press

65 Bridge Street

Cambridge CB2 1UR, UK

Polity Press

350 Main Street

Malden, MA 02148, USA

All rights reserved. Except for the quotation of short passages for the purpose of criticism and review, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher.

ISBN-13: 978-0-7456-9079-7

ISBN-13: 978-0-7456-9080-3 (pb)

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Pennington, T. H. (Thomas Hugh)

    Have bacteria won? / Hugh Pennington.

        pages cm

    Includes bibliographical references.

    ISBN 978-0-7456-9079-7 (hardback) – ISBN 978-0-7456-9080-3 (pbk.)    1.  Bacteria.    2.  Viruses.    3.  Communicable diseases–Prevention.    4.  Communicable diseases–Treatment.    5.  World health.    6.  Epidemics–History.    I.  Title.

    QR75.P36 2015

    579.3–dc23

                2015016898

Typeset in 11 on 15 pt Adobe Garamond

by Toppan Best-set Premedia Limited

Printed and bound in the United Kingdom by Clays Ltd, St Ives PLC

The publisher has used its best endeavours to ensure that the URLs for external websites referred to in this book are correct and active at the time of going to press. However, the publisher has no responsibility for the websites and can make no guarantee that a site will remain live or that the content is or will remain appropriate.

Every effort has been made to trace all copyright holders, but if any have been inadvertently overlooked the publisher will be pleased to include any necessary credits in any subsequent reprint or edition.

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Introduction

Have Bacteria Won? is a title intended to scare you and make you read on. ‘Bacteria’ conjures up an army of malevolent germs, and ‘won’ implies losing a war against them. Moreover, predictions abound of a return to the world of pre-Florence Nightingale horrors as we enter an apocalyptic post-antibiotic era. But are these fears justified? Let's start by putting bacteria in their proper place. Those that live on our skin and in our mouths, throats and intestines are known collectively as the microbiome. On a single person its cells outnumber those of humans 10-fold, and bacterial genes outnumber human genes 360-fold. For most of our lives our relationship with the members of the microbiome is happy and profitable. We feed them, and they help us digest our food, make vitamins for us and compete successfully against ill-intentioned invaders. Of the 10,000 bacterial species that inhabit us, those that can cause disease are a tiny fraction and in fact they usually stay silent.