Product Description

They're everywhere. Silent and invisible to the naked eye, they're on everything we touch, eat, breathe -- on every single inch of our skin. And despite the remarkable advances of science, germs are challenging medicine in ways that were unimaginable just a decade ago. Due to an explosion of infections never before reported in modern history and a new germ horror story surfacing every week, it's no small wonder that we're frightened -- and that antibacterial soaps are a billion-dollar business. Now, renowned microbiologist Philip Tierno cuts through the media hype with the compulsively readable Secret Life Of Germs, revealing exactly where the greatest threats may be hiding.

The Secret Life Of Germs provides an inside view of this fascinating and elegantly ordered microscopic world -- from the common cold, E. coli, and Lyme disease to encephalitis, mad cow disease, and anthrax. It takes readers on a historical survey of the culprits of disease and explores the effect that they -- and the scientists who study them -- have had on our world.

Rising above the common scare-tactic techniques used by many authors, Dr. Tierno's message is an optimistic one. Recognizing that humans are more often than not the main spreaders of disease, he offers numerous protective response strategies -- health and hygiene tips for inside and outside the home, advice on food safety, and pointers on human contact -- to stop the transmittal. Filled with practical and enlightening information, The Secret Life Of Germs is an engaging book that will keep readers mesmerized while helping them stay healthy.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #831934 in Books
• Published on: 2001-11-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 304 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Germs are the seeds of life as well as disease, explains Tierno, the New York University Medical Center doctor who helped solve the mystery of toxic shock syndrome. A germ hunter in the truest sense, Tierno spells out how to survive a world so rife with germs that "alien observers might conclude that they are the dominant life form on our planet." His field samplings from high-trafficked New York City locations such as pay phones, taxicabs, public restrooms and even the engagement ring counter at Tiffany's will startle readers, but the author is not an alarmist: his aim is disease prevention, and his method is education. The book opens with a quick history of germ evolution and of human understanding of germs, from biblical injunctions on cleanliness to the modern science of microbiology. It outlines the various ways illness-causing bacteria are transmitted and gives precise instructions for minimizing infection with a bulleted list of "protective response strategies" at the end of each chapter. On subjects of controversy, Tierno tends to fall on the conservative side. He rejects the recent notion that overcleaning is responsible for deficient immune systems and increased childhood asthma (arguing that even the most vigilant housekeeping wouldn't protect kids from all germs), and his warnings against unpasteurized products will be questioned by some. The last third of the book touches on the unexpected role of germs in illnesses such as ulcers and heart disease; antibiotic-resistant bacteria strains; germ warfare; and bacteria-fighting methods of the future. This germ primer brings the bug into focus while setting even the most jittery hypochondriac's mind at ease.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

The NYU Medical Center director of clinical microbiology and diagnostic immunology shares the story of bacteria, viruses, and prions and their myriad effects on human beings. From toxic shock syndrome to Lyme disease to diarrheal infections of the Third World, Tierno offers a broad overview of the impact of these microbes on the world today. A particularly relevant chapter on germ warfare and terrorism discusses anthrax and other possible bioweapons. Recent books such as Pete Moore's Killer Germs: Rogue Diseases of the Twenty-First Century (Carlton, 2001) have also covered this topic, but Tierno's book includes general information on disease transmission, hand washing, and less glamorous diseases that affect more people than the newsmakers like mad cow disease. An interesting book for popular science readers as well as for students doing reports on disease; recommended for public libraries and consumer health collections. Elizabeth Williams, Fresno City Coll. Lib., CA

Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
Tierno, whose work on the relationship between toxic shock syndrome and tampons played a major role in solving that deadly problem, has written a fascinating, informative book on the good as well as the bad features of germs. Good? Well, germs are necessary to digesting food, and research is enlisting polio to help treat spinal injuries. Unfortunately, the bad outweighs the good; for instance, 80 percent of germ infections are spread by simple person-to-person contact (proper, frequent hand washing is the best prophylaxis). Tierno cites historic individuals and events to enliven his account of current problems, in particular. Thus we learn that the famous plague of ancient Athens may have been inhalational anthrax--an obvious lead-in to considering modern terrorists' use of that germ. Reconditioned mattresses and leaky vacuum cleaners are cited as germ hazards, and unfortunately, certain germs are becoming drug-resistant through careless or ill-advised use of antibiotics. Furthermore, germs are also being implicated in diseases not previously associated with them, such as peptic ulcer. An engaging book despite its lack of references. William Beatty
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Customer Reviews

Lessons we should have learned
Do you remember your mother and your teachers always getting after you to wash your hands? And sometimes a little voice inside of you said, "My hands already look clean." And you didn't bother to wash them?

You might not think it worthwhile to read a book that nags you on this very same subject, especially if you are a physician or hospital care worker. But, as this author points out, hospital-acquired infections are among the biggest public health threats in America and they're on the rise. The often drug-resistant germs kill more than twice as many people as traffic accidents (in fact, these infections kill more people per year than all accidental deaths including car crashes, fires, burns, falls, etc.) and cost an estimated $4.5 billion a year.

Those are astonishing statistics--something to be expected from a medieval pest hole, not a modern hospital.

Just yesterday (10/25/2002), the government issued guidelines urging doctors and nurses to abandon the ritual of washing their hands with soap and water between patients, and instead rub on fast-drying alcohol gels to kill more germs. The author of "The Secret Life of Germs" also favors germicides over simple soap and water. He's done his research and does not feel that germs will develop resistance to these products, because they do not kill selectively like antibiotics do.

Be sure to read the section on "The (Not So) Sweet Smell of Human Flora." You might be surprised by some of the causes of chronic bad breath---and the remedies (chew a wad a parsley or celery seed after eating garlic).

In fact this book recommends protective response strategies for almost all of those times when you might find yourself in a germ-laden environment. After hospitals, public restrooms are the scariest (yes, your mother was right about them, too). The author recommends specific techniques for washing your hands before and after using public facilities. Unfortunately, another one of his protective response strategies--close the lid of the seat before flushing--can't be implemented in a restroom stall, because there are no lids. This is a problem because "flushing the toilet can send small drops of aerosolized fecal matter as far as twenty feet into the air."

The least you can do is close the lid at home, especially if your toothbrush happens to be stored in the open, less than twenty feet away from your toilet.

The sections on pets, fast food, municipal water supplies and leftovers are also grim. Did you know that the bacterium 'Listeria monocytogenes,' the cause of listeriosis food poisoning, resists freezing and actually thrives at normal refrigeration temperatures? The author has a list of nineteen protective response strategies for eating and drinking. You really should check them out, especially if you are fond of fast foods, are giving or attending a party where food is served buffet-style, or are immuno-suppressed.

"The Secret Life of Germs" is not a fun book, but it is essential reading for those of us who are concerned about our health or the health of others (Saddam Hussein is actually practicing good hygiene when he makes people scrub up before shaking hands with him).

A readable, fact-packed manual for germophobes
Germophobes unite! If you're the type of person (as I am) who washes his or her hands several times a day, usually the first thing I do when I get home, avoids putting fingers to mouth or nose, doesn't touch doorknobs if they can be avoided, flushes public toilets with the sole of your shoe-covered foot, etc., etc., then this is a book to further your phobia. You will be justified. Prof Tierno, who has impressive academic credentials and a claim to fame as "the man who helped solve the mystery behind toxic shock syndrome" sounds a very stringent warning here about the dangers of the wrong microbes in the wrong places. He is, I must report, a bit of a germophobe himself, but a learned one. He sprinkles his text with what he calls "Protective Response Strategies" to help us maneuver our way through the microbial jungle that lives in, on and all around us. The first response strategy is on "How to wash your hands."

I've always had a small problem with that. Not at home, where the germs are MY germs, but in public places, especially restrooms. Is it better to just go in, relieve yourself, and exit, being careful not to touch the door handle, or any surface someone else may have touched? (Where there's a handle to pull open the door, I try to grab it with one finger at the very top, thinking nobody else is likely to have grabbed it there.) Or should I stop to wash? But if I stop to "wash" that means I have to touch the faucet, but how can I not touch it last, which may be worse than not washing at all? Tierno has the answer: turn the water off with a paper towel in your hand. Another problem is how to get that paper towel into the trash cylinder without touching the spring-loaded opening. Sometimes what I do is push it open with the towel in my hand and try to drop the towel before it springs shut. Usually it lands on the floor. I used to feel bad about that, but Tierno has a suggestion for places that don't have waste receptacles that has made me feel better: "Drop the towel on the floor. If enough people do so, there will soon be a receptacle there, as there should be." (p. 29)

"Germs" in Tierno's usage are microbes, viruses, bacteria, protozoa, yeast, molds, etc. He gives a wealth of information about many of them, how they spread, how they cause disease, and what we can do about lessening our chance of catching something horrible. He addresses various health issues, and traces the now global spread of disease, from AIDs to Ebola to Legionnaires, to the new threat from tuberculosis and weapons grade anthrax, to rhinoviruses ("nose viruses"), which cause colds, and hantaviruses, which can kill you, and beyond. An interesting (and unsettling) point he makes is that some germs, like the ubiquitous Escherichia coli or Staphylococcus aureus, which usually lives peacefully on our skin, can become lethal if they get to the wrong place in the body. Also there is the very unsettling possibility that a germ may mutate from one that our immune system has in control to one that kills us.

Well, germs are not going anywhere. They were here long before we were, and they'll surely be here long after we are gone. We need to make our peace with them, learn to live with them (multicellular life would be impossible without microbes to break down dead tissue, to produce oxygen, to serve as the base of the food chain, etc.) and reduce their noxious effects. Tierno's book may not make you feel any easier about the invisible little devils that make up perhaps the majority of the biomass on the planet (most of it underground, it now appears), but it will make you feel more knowledgeable, and you will perhaps gain a grudging respect for their amazing abilities.

By the way, a gram of human fecal matter contains about one trillion microbes. A gram of matter from the surface of our teeth contains about one hundred billion microbes. And that sweet saliva we used to exchange when we were young, despite being a good digestive fluid, contains about one hundred million microbes per milliliter. (p. 46)

Finally I want to note that Tierno has solved (for me at least) a very strange mystery that has been making news lately. Childhood asthma rates in the US have increased greatly in recent years, while some authorities have noted that rates in the Third World are lower than rates in the United States. (pp. 166-167) How can this be? Tierno writes, "One reason that childhood asthma rates seem to be lower in the Third World is very likely the fact that several million Third World children a year die at very early ages..." He adds, "...many Third World children simply don't live long enough to be recorded as having asthma..." (p. 167). Additionally, he notes on page 168, "If we are looking for an explanation for the 158 percent increase in asthma in the United States over the past two decades, we might reasonably begin by noticing that the same period has seen a large increase in the number of people living in poverty, thanks to big increases in immigration."

One more thing: There was a Seinfeld TV episode in which Elaine's on-again, off-again boyfriend, Puddy, is a member of a fictional (I think) organization called "Germophobes Anonymous." If it had a manual, Prof. Tierno's very readable, but rather disquieting book would serve very well indeed.

Superficial Analysis
This book is good if you want to be warned over and over to wash your hands! If you are looking for the difference between viruses and bacteria, actual scientific references or interesting facts about how germs and bacteria live, reproduce and colonize us - look elsewhere. This book was too preachy and didn't have enough information for anyone with a genuine interest in biology, human physiology, or health.