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The demon under the microscope : from battlefield hospitals to Nazi labs, one do
Hager, Thomas.
Adult Nonfiction RM666.S9 H34 2006
From Publishers' Weekly:
Modern bacteriology was born on the battlefields of WWI, where bacteria-rich trenches added to the toll of millions of soldiers killed. Not coincidentally, the search for anything that would significantly diminish the deadly power of disease largely occurred between the world wars, mostly in Germany. Gerhard Domagk and his colleagues at Bayer (a subsidiary of I.G. Farben) worked feverishly to identify which microscopic squiggles might render humankind forever safe from malaria and tuberculosis. The answer, discovered in 1932, turned out to be sulfa drugs, the precursors to modern antibiotics. Hager, a biographer of Linus Pauling, does a remarkable job of transforming material fit for a biology graduate seminar into highly entertaining reading. He knows that lay readers need plenty of personality and local color, and his story is rich with both. This yarn prefigures the modern rush for corporate pharma patents; it is testament to Hager's skill that the inherently unsexy process of finding the chemicals that might help conquer strep is as exciting as an account of the hunt for a Russian submarine. (Sept.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
From Library Journal:
The "demon" in the title refers to the disease-causing bacteria that killed off innumerable human populations before the advent of modern drugs. In this fascinating and highly readable account, science and medical writer Hager narrates the story of the race to find the "magic bullet" to eliminate diseases such as pneumonia, childbed fever, and gonorrhea. He details the primitive state of medicine during World War I, when more soldiers (and civilians) died from infection than from wounds received during combat. The war itself spurred scientists to research the causes of bacterial infections and search for a cure, which spawned fierce competition between German and French companies. Hager connects early innovations in medicine to the fortuitous and intuitive leaps that allowed early 20th-century researchers to create sulfa, the first antibiotic. Hager also documents the first abuse of antibiotics: physicians using patients as guinea pigs, guessing wildly about correct dosing, and prescribing sulfa for every perceived malady. One is left with a sense of gratitude for the relative safety of modern medical practices. Highly recommended.-Janet M. Schneider, James A. Haley Veterans' Hosp. Lib., Tampa, FL (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Hager, Thomas.
Adult Nonfiction RM666.S9 H34 2006
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From Publishers' Weekly:
Modern bacteriology was born on the battlefields of WWI, where bacteria-rich trenches added to the toll of millions of soldiers killed. Not coincidentally, the search for anything that would significantly diminish the deadly power of disease largely occurred between the world wars, mostly in Germany. Gerhard Domagk and his colleagues at Bayer (a subsidiary of I.G. Farben) worked feverishly to identify which microscopic squiggles might render humankind forever safe from malaria and tuberculosis. The answer, discovered in 1932, turned out to be sulfa drugs, the precursors to modern antibiotics. Hager, a biographer of Linus Pauling, does a remarkable job of transforming material fit for a biology graduate seminar into highly entertaining reading. He knows that lay readers need plenty of personality and local color, and his story is rich with both. This yarn prefigures the modern rush for corporate pharma patents; it is testament to Hager's skill that the inherently unsexy process of finding the chemicals that might help conquer strep is as exciting as an account of the hunt for a Russian submarine. (Sept.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
From Library Journal:
The "demon" in the title refers to the disease-causing bacteria that killed off innumerable human populations before the advent of modern drugs. In this fascinating and highly readable account, science and medical writer Hager narrates the story of the race to find the "magic bullet" to eliminate diseases such as pneumonia, childbed fever, and gonorrhea. He details the primitive state of medicine during World War I, when more soldiers (and civilians) died from infection than from wounds received during combat. The war itself spurred scientists to research the causes of bacterial infections and search for a cure, which spawned fierce competition between German and French companies. Hager connects early innovations in medicine to the fortuitous and intuitive leaps that allowed early 20th-century researchers to create sulfa, the first antibiotic. Hager also documents the first abuse of antibiotics: physicians using patients as guinea pigs, guessing wildly about correct dosing, and prescribing sulfa for every perceived malady. One is left with a sense of gratitude for the relative safety of modern medical practices. Highly recommended.-Janet M. Schneider, James A. Haley Veterans' Hosp. Lib., Tampa, FL (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
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