Book Reviews We
had the assistance of students in the degree program in developing
this edition’s recommended readings
section. Each of the reviews was developed as a course requirement
for the Biosecurity Risk Assessment course. Beating Back the Devil Beating Back the Devil Biosecurity Program If you know nothing about the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS), Maryn McKenna’s book is a fascinating journey with these “disease detectives”. The book reads like medical science fiction in many of the chapters, but in fact is very real. Embedded with the newest EIS enrollees in 2002, Maryn McKenna follows this class into the often frightening world of old and emerging infections from all over the world. The EIS was organized around the time of the Korean War. In 1951, when U.S. troops in Korea became sick with an unknown illness, there was rumor of “germ warfare” occurring. The first chief epidemiologist at CDC, Alexander Langmuir, felt it was important to have a cadre of trained individuals to investigate these unknown outbreaks of illness around the world. Thus, in July 1951, the first students started their two year commitment in the field of epidemiology. Working much like “gum-shoe” detectives, the symbol for the new program became the outline of the sole of a shoe with a hole in it placed onto a globe of the earth. The book goes back and forth between the current EIS students’ assignments and past epidemiological investigations such as polio, smallpox, AIDS, and tuberculosis. Investigations have come full circle from the original concern about biological attacks in the Korean War to the present day fear of these same types of events. Similar to tornado chasers, the EIS officers are always running toward an outbreak and not away from it. Their goal is to try and stop epidemics before they wreak too much havoc The training for the EIS class that McKenna follows begins at a former military hospital at Fort McClellan, in Anniston, Alabama. The now closed military base used to be home for the U.S. Army Chemical School training facility. It seems ironic that the classes are now held on a site where chemical weapons, such as Sarin and mustard gas, were buried. Classes include various topics such as the Category A agents: anthrax, botulism, plague, tularemia, smallpox, and viral hemorrhagic fever. Some of these very agents, along with other serious infections studied by the students, have been weaponized in the past, or have the potential for future terrorist deployment. The classroom sessions, however, are not just about these horrific possibilities, but also include some of what has been thought of as conquered diseases. Unfortunately, preventable or treatable diseases like malaria, measles, hepatitis, tuberculosis, and other diseases are still a part of our world. Along with these diseases the students also look at some of the newer emerging infections such as West Nile Virus, SARS, drug-resistant staphylococcus, and avian influenza. The contributions of these dedicated federal employees told within the pages of this book are immeasurable. They often work long hours under very austere conditions to defeat and control deadly diseases. It is the age old story of man against the monsters. Whereas, the fear of the unknown sends most people into a self-preservation mode, the EIS officers are the front-line dragon slayers in this war on illness and disease. |