The Pathological Protein: Mad Cow, Chronic Wasting, and Other Deadly Prion Diseases / Edition 1

by Philip Yam

Overview

Prions are an entirely new class of pathogens, and scientists are just beginning to understand them. Although they have plagued humans and animals for 3 centuries, only in the last 2 decades have researchers linked them to diseases like Mad Cow. This book tells the strange story of their discovery, and the medical controversies that swirl around them. The author, Philip Yam, is a well-respected and connected journalist who is now an editor at Scientific American.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780387955087
Publisher:	Springer New York
Publication date:	04/30/2003
Edition description:	2003
Pages:	284
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 0.03(d)

Table of Contents

1. A Death in Devizes 2. Possessed 3. The Cannibal Disease 4. Neuro-Invasion 5. On the Trail of a Killer 6. Straining the Hypoothesis 7. Consuming Fears 8. The Human Toll 9. Blood Simple 10. Can It Happen Here?

Editorial Reviews

Reviewer: Leah D. Kroger, B.S, M.D.(University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine)
Description: This is a thorough history of prion diseases from both a historic and scientific aspect, the role it has had on society, and where the world stands now on treatment and prevention of certain prion diseases.
Purpose: The purpose is to describe how the prion was discovered, how it has been linked to other rare and poorly understood illnesses, and how to control the spread of the disease as well as diagnose and treat it. This information is not particularly important for a general neurologist since the diseases are all incredibly rare. However, for someone interested in prion disease, the objectives of this book are worthy and the author does meet them.
Audience: The book is written for a general audience and is not necessarily targeted specifically to those in the medical field, according to the author. The author is a editor for Scientific American and he appears to have done extensive research.
Features: The book discusses the history of prion disease, both from a historical standpoint and the science behind discovering the prion. He also discusses the effect it has had on the public, what diseases prions are associated with, how to control prion disease and possible treatments. The book is easy to read, and the author relates specific stories about people affected by prion diseases, which makes the book more interesting. The few diagrams that are used are simplistic and easy for the lay person to understand.
Assessment: This is an excellent book for the person who has a broad interest in prion diseases. It is well written and informative. I was impressed with the quality of the book and how easy it is to read. I am not sure how useful it is for the general neurologist as the diseases are incredibly rare and most likely physicians will not see many, if any, cases. For easy, light reading I would recommend it to both physicians and lay people.

Doody's Review Service

3 Stars from Doody

When mad cow disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), and the linked human disease variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD) made headlines in the early 1990s, many dire predictions and books were issued. Luckily, the epidemic has not surfaced (so far there have been fewer than 100 cases since 1994), but it is still important to learn from past mistakes and understand BSE and other prion (proteinaceous infectious particle) diseases. Because of the ten- to 15-year incubation period, scientists and public health officials are still concerned about the future possibilities of other infected victims. Yam, a writer and editor for Scientific American since 1989, presents a detailed yet readable history of the mad cow scare and other prion diseases that affect humans and animals, such as scrapie. In this regard, his book is similar to Maxime Schwartz's How the Cows Turned Mad in which Schwartz, a French scientist, covers scrapie BSE from a European perspective. Yam gives more coverage to the U.S. reactions to BSE and delves into the problems of chronic wasting disease (CWD) in elk and deer in North America and the research on other prion diseases like fatal familial insomnia (FFI). Recommended for most science collections.-Margaret Henderson, Cold Spring Harbor Lab Lib., NY Technology Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

From the reviews:

"The book is written for a general audience and is not necessarily targeted specifically to those in the medical field, according to the author. … This is an excellent book for the person who has a broad interest in prion diseases. It is well written and informative. I was impressed with the quality of the book and how easy it is to read. … I would recommend it to both physicians and lay people." (Leah D. Kroger, www.doody.com, February, 2004)

"Scientists still have more questions than answers about BSE, vCJD and the related scourges which make up the transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs). Philip Yam’s book, ‘The Pathological Protein’, does an admirable job of exploring them. … is full of such sensible observations, a welcome novelty in discussions on this fraught topic. The author is particularly good at explaining the complex and controversial science behind TSEs, as well as the prospects for better diagnosis and treatment … ." (The Economist –online, March, 2004)

"Philip Yam, Scientific American writer and editor, has a knack for boiling down complex science and making it palatable to the general public. Yam demonstrates his skills in an important new book, The Pathological Protein. … His treatment is thorough, entertaining, and honest. … This is definitely a book for decision-makers to read and underline. … it is a sourcebook of extremely valuable information about TSEs and a guide to some very suspect areas of farming and meat producing." (James A. Swan, National Review Online, www.nationalreview.com, August, 2003)

"Yam, a writer and editor for Scientific American since 1989, presents a detailed yet readable history of the mad cow scare and other prion diseases that affect humans and animals, such as scrapie. … Yam gives more coverage to the U.S. reactions to BSE and delves into the problems of chronic wasting disease (CWD) in elk and deer in North America and the research on other prion diseases like fatal familial insomnia (FFI). Recommended for most science collections." (Margaret Henderson, Library Journal, June, 2003)

"Yam, who has written and edited for the Scientific American has a singularly easy style to read and the story that he tells is of how the family in Devizes in England first found their son had variant CJD. … He writes this for a wide audience with it being interesting for everyone from the scientists to the average reader and he includes large amounts of information … . A book aimed at a very wide audience but scientifically involving." (Stephen Dealler, priondata.org, August, 2003)

"When bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) first appeared in 1986 in the UK, many of the worries focused on the country’s agricultural industry … . Much of the literature on the subject tells the story of how we gradually realized that maybe humans were at risk … . In his well-written and easy-to-understand book ‘The Pathological Protein … Philip Yam paints a different picture. … Anyone who reads Yam’s excellent book will understand how data on TSEs were in fact readily accessible during the past 20years." (Stephen F. Dealler, C&EN - Chemical & Engineering News, November, 2003)

"It is indisputable that interest in the rare and unusual greatly exceeds that given to the common and mundane. The appearance of yet another book on transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs) should not therefore be surprising … . All this suggests that writing a book about TSEs should be easy. How was it for Philip Yam? In The Pathological Protein … he does a good job. … his accounts of technical matters are reader-friendly, but do not dumb down. … It is comprehensive, well researched and well referenced." (Hugh Pennington, Times Higher Education Supplement, December, 2003)

From the Publisher