Editorial Review:
"In a clear, engaging style, Dr. Walters tells the tale of each disease like a detective story. He allows each mystery to unfold as it did in reality, often slowly, through the lives of the plants and animals involved, the first human victims, the government officials who tried to respond, and the scientists who ultimately explained what was happening." -NEW YORK TIMES "...a fascinating work of ecological journalism, utterly convincing in its argument: that our health and the health of the environment are intimately linked, and we overlook that link at our peril." -MICHAEL POLLAN, AUTHOR OF SECOND NATURE AND THE BOTANY OF DESIRE "Mark Jerome Walters weaves a fine thread of human disturbances through the quilt work of modern pandemics. After being drawn engagingly into the explosive symptoms of global environmental change, readers will come to understand that we have no choice but to make peace with nature." -PAUL R. EPSTEIN, M.D., M.P.H., CENTER FOR HEALTH AND THE GLOBAL ENVIRONMENT, HARVARD MEDICAL SCHOOL West Nile Virus -- Mad Cow Disease -- HIV/AIDS -- Hantavirus -- Lyme Disease ... and a new strain of Salmonella. Such modern epidemics have emerged over the past few decades as mysterious, yet significant risks to human health. These "plagues" are forcing us to modify our lifestyles in ways that minimize our chances of becoming a statistic in the latest tally of the afflicted. In Six Modern Plagues, Mark Jerome Walters offers us the first book for the general reader that connects these emerging health risks and their ecological origins. Drawing on new research, interviews, and his own investigations, Mark Jerome Walters weaves together a compelling argument: that changes humans have made to the environment, from warming the climate to clearing the forests, have contributed to, if not caused a rising tide of diseases that are afflicting humans and many other species. According to Mark Jerome Walters, humans are not always innocent bystanders to infectious disease. To the contrary, in the case of many modern epidemics, we are the instigators. Six Modern Plagues, a ground-breaking introduction to the connection between disease and environmental degradation should be read by all those interested in their health and the health of others.
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Customer Reviews
Average Customer Rating: 
An enthralling read about modern diseases! 2007-01-12
A valuable resource on environmental issues and modern diseases, Mark Jerome Walters' Six Modern Plagues is an overall enthralling read. The author is very qualified on the material of this book and even has time to incorporate a story line about the victims of the diseases making this book hard to put down. It is a fairly easy read and should be interesting for anyone who would like to learn about the environment. It also has much important information for someone studying biology, microbiology and any other in the field of biological or medical sciences.
The Six plagues written in this book are Mad Cow disease, HIV/AIDS, Salmonella DT104, Lyme disease, Hantavirus, and St.Louis Encephalitis. There is a clear connection shown in this book between the rapid spread of the diseases noted and changes in the environment caused by humans. The system of events for the victims was engaging and descriptive. The current situation is also noted at the end of each chapter so that older diseases can be looked upon to prevent future occurrences. Overall the book does contain some faults. It offers little hope for the future which makes it almost depressing to read. Also at times when describing the victim he includes too much medical data which might make it hard to follow for someone with no medical experience. The few faults that this book does have it makes up for making this an altogether great book that I recommend to anyone.
A chilling introduction to human / microbe interaction in the modern world 2006-07-07
I was required to read this as part of my Intro to Microbiology course. I kept it on my bookshelf because it quickly became an invaluable resource. While it is obvious the author knows a lot about the subject material, the book itself is fairly easy to read, and has almost the elements of a page-turner at times.
The best thing about this book is that it very clearly shows the causative relationship between human change to the environment and the diseases that are currently afflicting us, including Mad Cow and Lyme disease. Even now, three semesters after the class, I still find myself bringing up this book in conversations and using it as a reference for discussions about the evolution of microbes and antibiotic resistant superbugs.
If you have any interest in microbiology... if you are going into the medical field or any of the biological sciences... or if you are simply concerned about the effect that humans are having on the world at large, I highly recommend this book.
A compelling read 2005-08-12
I was turned on to the book by Mark's older brother, John Walters, who is executive director of the Lightstone Foundation, an environmental organization based in West Virginia. I was expecting a deary medical discourse for the mass consumer culture. What I got was a compelling read about critical problems facing and caused by our society.
Mark's writing style is very engaging and I had the pleasure of reading it straight through. The thoughts evoked are not terrifying or hysteric but rather give one the basis to weave the subject matter into our everyday decisions on how to live in an ever more complex and mobile world.
A good, quick introduction to a very important field 2004-09-21
This year it's the West Nile virus that's killing birds, horses and people for the first time where I live in Northern California. In the past year we've read about SARS appearing in China and jumping to cities around the world, about Mad Cow disease showing up here in the U.S., in Canada and in Japan, about the threat of a global flu epidemic, and of course we're all aware of the vast AIDS epidemic which continues to penetrate new populations in the industrialized world and which is devastating much of Africa.
Veterinarian Mark Walters does a very readable job of discerning a common thread that ties together these and other modern plaques. He demonstrates that they are not simply random natural events, but are all intimately tied to human activities. The strange infectious proteins that cause Mad Cow disease would not have created an epidemic if farmers hadn't gotten used to feeding cattle the ground-up by-products of other cows. HIV almost certainly spread from a primate reservoir to humans through the butchering and ingestion of bush meat, a growing practice that could easily be the source of future plagues. The deadly bacteria that are becoming increasing resistant to our armamentarium of antibiotics are goaded along this path by the use of enormous quantities of antibiotics in raising animals. Walters traces similar human factors for Lyme Disease, Hantavirus and the West Nile virus.
Readers who are interested in the plagues that have shaped human history, or in emerging diseases that have the potential to decimate the world today or in the near future will need to go beyond Walters' brief book. Still, I found it a helpful reminder of the extent to which we humans are influencing the course of events, even seemingly natural events like the outbreaks of new diseases. The more aware we are of the impacts of our activities, the more likely we are to be willing to modify them.
Robert Adler, author of Medical Firsts: From Hippocrates to the Human Genome; and Science Firsts: From the Creation of Science to the Science of Creation.
Skip this one if you are looking to learn something  2004-05-13
This book is disappointing. Walters offers little scientific or intellectual insight, or constructive advice for addressing some genuine human concerns. If you want to learn something about disease incidence and history, skip this book and buy Andrew Speilman's Mosquito, which is excellent! Emergence of new diseases and the reemergence of old ones is indeed a real concern, but Walters's politically correct philosophy prevents him from offering any real useful advice. Instead, the book amounts to little more than a well-written rant about the horrors of modern society and technology. Walters's view is basically that mankind's disruption of nature is causing "ecodemics"-disease outbreaks caused mankind's tampering with nature by doing such things as building homes (or sprawl as he calls it), entering the forests, and world travel. It is true that human actions do spread disease. But that is hardly a revelation since many diseases spread by human contact or by traveling vectors like mosquitoes. World travel throughout the ages has spread diseases across continents and Western nations are now seeing the emergence of new diseases and the reemergence of old ones. Clearly, we do have a need for disease-control efforts, and we should learn from the past, which Walters might say is his point. But that's not where his argument leads. Walters says we must address these causes by "protecting and restoring ecological wholeness upon which our health depends." The implication is that there should be fewer people, living in smaller, more isolated communities. But Walters's cure is more imaginary than achievable. How are we going to drastically reduce population and return to isolationist societies? It just isn't going to happen, and it wouldn't be a good thing. Thanks to globalization, economic growth, and human ingenuity, the average lifespan is now longer than anytime in history. With economic growth, we have been able to make remarkable progress in the battle against disease. Aggressive human action has removed smallpox from the menu of diseases in the transmission cycle (only an act of terrorism could bring it back). Determined efforts, rather than passive responses (which Walters recommends), have made the last decade less disease-ridden. That is not to say the challenges don't continue. In addition to emerging infections in the Western world, people in developing nations suffer from diseases on a catastrophic scale. Consider the simple fact that people living in huts lack things that most people have in those "sprawling" neighborhoods that Walters dubs "shortsighted efforts to make the world more hospitable for humans." They lack, for instance, barriers to mosquito entry such as screened windows-leaving them exposed to malaria-carrying insects that produce several hundred million illnesses and several million deaths every year. Most of malaria's victims are children. The spraying of DDT on the walls of these homes-one of the most affordable options for the poor-could act as an alternative barrier to mosquitoes. But Walters never offers such advice or even bothers to acknowledge the millions who die owing to primitive living conditions. Walters's presentation of the "facts" about many of the diseases should also be read with a critical eye as he often doesn't tell the whole story. For example, consider his chapter on antibiotic use in animals, which he suggests is creating antibiotic resistant organisms in our food that pose serious risks. He basically says that farmers give these medications to farm animals because they are lazy and just want to make "extra money." While there is some risk of resistant microbes developing, the impact is far more limited that Walters suggests, and risk can be managed. Most resistance problems result from the use of antibiotics in hospitals. Walters doesn't note that fact or offer useful advice about how to address the problem. For example, proper cooking of meat can greatly reduce risks, but he doesn't recommend that. Nor does he note the benefits of antibiotics-which reduce other risks and make this agricultural practice a net benefit to society. Agricultural antibiotic use means that animals are healthier can be raised on less feed. As a result, less land is planted to feed animals, reducing farm related runoff problems and making more land available for wildlife. Lower production costs and higher production means that more people can eat at a lower cost. And reduced feed intake means reduced animal waste, which reduces the environmental impacts of such waste. Antibiotics produce healthier animals, which translates into healthier meat for human consumption.
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