Book Description

History books can be boring to read but Dr. Charles Calisher has written a history of the early days of virus research that is anything but boring. His book emphasizes viruses, organization, and people, the combination which has led us to today. Using yellow fever and the virus that causes it, yellow fever virus, as an example of a disease caused by a virus transmitted by insects, Calisher takes us through the days when knowledge of these diseases was in short supply, techniques were primitive, but researchers were brilliant, innovative, and hard-working. From Louis Pasteur and Robert Koch, to Walter Reed and Max Theiler, and then to the more recent investigators, this book shows the sequences of events, how what is discovered becomes the basis for other discoveries. The results of the efforts of the earliest investigators were exciting and led them and those who followed to further discoveries about viruses: what they were, where they were, and who they infected. As discoveries were made, doors were opened to further studies, of the influence of the environment on virus presence and disease transmission, of the molecular characteristics of viruses that distinguish them from close and distant relatives and the taxonomy that binds them all, of diagnostic studies leading to early treatment, of the development of vaccines, and of the remarkable array of viruses that have already been recognized, some causing dreadful and shocking illnesses, some not known to cause illness at all. Viruses are the focus of the need for such a book, yellow fever virus, of course, but Ebola, Marburg, West Nile, and dengue viruses, the equine encephalitis viruses, hantaviruses and arenaviruses of rodents and humans, and newly recognized viruses of importance to humans, livestock, and wild animals. These viruses are reported by newspapers and public media but after a week or two, their names disappear from the public eye, replaced by newer stories of health problems. However, the viruses themselves do not disappear and physicians, veterinarians, and other scientists continue to investigate them in exotic locations, often at considerable risk to their own health and well-being. This book tells their communal story, the story of medical history, entomology, vector-borne diseases, virology, epidemiology and related fascinating but little recognized disciplines Interweaving his own personal stories of the strengths, weaknesses, and eccentricities of individualistic, multidisciplinary people, those who have been involved in these studies for the past more than 100 years, Calisher has written a readable and humorous memoir, full of anecdotal comments but supported by documentation and references. This book is readable by lay and professional people alike, and is written to provide students at any level, clinicians, educators, administrators, and societal historians with the background they need and want. The book is essential for anyone with a love of history or someone who is looking for knowledge that will put the pieces together.