The Plague Makers: How We Are Creating Catastrophic New Epidemics, and What We Must Do to Avert Them

"Shocking in its revelations, alarming in its implications, and overwhelmingly convincing in the evidence it offers, The Plague Makers warns that we are facing impending disaster. Pneumonia, rheumatic fever, meningitis, osteomyelitis, and countless other serious infectious diseases previously considered under control have suddenly reemerged and may soon reach epidemic proportions, plunging the world into a plague of misery and death unlike anything seen in over half a century." "Recent news of a tuberculosis epidemic is just the tip of the iceberg, reveals Jeffrey A. Fisher, M.D., a leading worldwide authority on future medicine and medical consultant to the pharmaceutical industry. The cause, Dr. Fisher explains, is the indiscriminate use of antibiotics, which is resulting in the emergence of virulent antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria that could lead to catastrophic epidemics of untreatable disease. Dr. Fisher proposes that excessive antibiotic use has also increased the spread of AIDS to the non-drug-addicted communitya bold hypothesis based on a privileged set of discussions with a group of scientists including Dr. Luc Montagnier, the discoverer of the HIV virus." "Based on scrupulous research and extensive interviews with some of the world's foremost scientists, The Plague Makers is a riveting narrative that chronicles the discovery of antibiotics (and their reception by the medical community as a panacea that would all but eradicate infectious diseases), the first signs of trouble in the 1950s, Al Gore's plea to Congress in 1984 "that something be done" - which was totally ignored - and the situation today, where we find ourselves on the brink of disaster. But The Plague Makers also offers hope - specifically, fifteen actions we can take to forestall catastrophe, along with a comprehensive guide to antibiotics and their proper application, with specific advice on which drugs will minimize the development of antibiotic resistance." "Groundbreaking and headline-making, The Plague Makers is a call to arms to limit the indiscriminate use of antibiotics before it's too late."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved… (more)