Science made accessible Series

Understanding Germ Warfare

Published 1 December 2002

In 1969, US Surgeon General William H. Stewart said that it was "time to close the book on infectious disease". But the enemy, and the power of natural selection, had been underestimated. The sober reality is that pathogens can adapt to every chemical that researchers develop. With the surge in global travel, these diseases can be spread as quickly as they are identified. But the same science that is fighting these diseases also has a hand in creating and adapting other pathogens. The use of deadly germs in warfare is nothing new, but awareness of their threat has been heightened by the US anthrax outbreaks. This book explores how germs affect the human body, how they are spread and what science is doing to combat the germs that seem to be becoming more dangerous by the day. It contains articles by noted scientists including William A. Haseltime, Chairman of Humane Genome Sciences Inc; Randolph M. Nesse and George C. Williams, authors of "Why We Get Sick", and Stewart B. Levy, Director of the Center for Adaptation Genetics and Drug Resistance at Tufts University School of Medicine.