![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Quammen compares combining specific antibodies with their virus to splashing holy water on a witch. For viral morphology, Ebola and Hendra virions together would resemble a “capellini in a light sauce of capers.” Mathematical modeling can be appreciated in translation, just as Dostoevsky can be appreciated in translation instead of in the original Russian. Instead of trying to turn the reader into a scientist with dry explanations, he uses analogies that have universal relevance. He focuses recurrently on the NBO (next big one) and how, if HIV or Ebola virus were more easily transmissible, no one would remain to read his book. He frames the events within an ecologic sense of the pathogen, the host, and the increasing human population. In 9 chapters, David Quammen chronicles various spillover events by using personal anecdotes and multiple stories to recount these events for the expert and novice alike. Spillover is a single event during which a pathogen from 1 species moves into another species such movement can result in an outbreak. Norton & Company, Ltd., New York, New York, USA, 2012 ![]()
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