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getlostmatilda's review
5.0
5 stars
This book provides a wonderful account of the fields of microbiology, virology, immunology and public health. It is highly readable and I believe it could be understood by people with any level of background in science. Having studied microbiology at the undergraduate level, I still found myself engaged and intrigued by interesting facts that I hadn't learned in my course. Often, we do not learn about the history and background of famous scientists, only their concepts and contribution to the field, so that was a lovely touch to this book.
A slight pitfall was the layout of the book. It would have made a stronger read if it was set out in either chronological order, or by splitting up the chapters so they focused on a single disease, microbe/virus, discovery, etc. at a time. I think this improved towards the end of the book, but early on, the chronology jumped around a lot between chapters. If you aren't hyper-focused and miss the change in time period, it makes it easy to get lost.
It would have also been valuable if the author focused more on the reasons that smallpox was able to be eradicated by vaccination and contrasted these against current diseases. For example, smallpox only infects humans, so you don't need to vaccinate other animals as they are not potential reservoirs. In contrast, rabies virus can infect a large range of animals (domestic and wild), making it almost impossible to vaccinate and eradicate the natural reservoirs.
It's a very relevant read at the moment with the development of vaccines against the novel coronavirus!
This book provides a wonderful account of the fields of microbiology, virology, immunology and public health. It is highly readable and I believe it could be understood by people with any level of background in science. Having studied microbiology at the undergraduate level, I still found myself engaged and intrigued by interesting facts that I hadn't learned in my course. Often, we do not learn about the history and background of famous scientists, only their concepts and contribution to the field, so that was a lovely touch to this book.
A slight pitfall was the layout of the book. It would have made a stronger read if it was set out in either chronological order, or by splitting up the chapters so they focused on a single disease, microbe/virus, discovery, etc. at a time. I think this improved towards the end of the book, but early on, the chronology jumped around a lot between chapters. If you aren't hyper-focused and miss the change in time period, it makes it easy to get lost.
It would have also been valuable if the author focused more on the reasons that smallpox was able to be eradicated by vaccination and contrasted these against current diseases. For example, smallpox only infects humans, so you don't need to vaccinate other animals as they are not potential reservoirs. In contrast, rabies virus can infect a large range of animals (domestic and wild), making it almost impossible to vaccinate and eradicate the natural reservoirs.
It's a very relevant read at the moment with the development of vaccines against the novel coronavirus!
lisanne624's review
4.0
The End of Plagues takes a fascinating look at the never-ending human effort to eradicate our most feared diseases, from smallpox to AIDS. Quite a lot of the book details the remarkable work of Dr. Edward Jenner, a pioneer in the field of inoculation. It was interesting to read how the "ancient Chinese" were already practicing inoculation in the form of introducing dried smallpox into the noses of infants as a way to protect them from later developing the disease. Other cultures practiced similar forms of protection, but in England in the mid 18th century, tales of milkmaids who recovered from the mild "cowpox" becoming immune to smallpox were dismissed as folklore. Thank goodness Jenner practiced in a rural area where he was able to observe that there was some truth to that old wives tale! Later chapters deal with the attempts to fight tuberculosis, polio, influenza and HIV, and how international medical communities have banded together in an attempt to defeat these and other contagious diseases. A very informative and fascinating read, especially for people like me who lack a scientific background!
annabcarey's review against another edition
4.0
Chapters were hit or miss, but overall this is a good, detailed history of the modern vaccine, and provides lots of solid information worth thinking about.
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