Yellow fever, black goddess

Description

Yellow Fever, Black Goddess turns the tables on past accounts, focusing not on the microbe hunters but on the microbes themselves, putting these exotic life-forms at center stage, telling their story as they fight to live at the very edge of the possible. Humans acknowledge the existence of our planet's primitive coinhabitants only when they do their worst - emerging to strike down whole populations through rampaging epidemics. But in fact, the protozoa, bacteria, and viruses that cause such diseases as yellow fever and cholera - which is symbolized by the black goddess - lead complex lives in their own right, struggling ever further out on their evolutionary limbs. In order to deal with these microbes we must understand the entire evolutionary environment in which they function - from tropical breeding grounds to the resistant temperate zones, from insect viruses to human plagues - and through this alone can we hope to control them. By giving these organisms their due in this remarkable account, Christopher Wills points the way toward gaining that mastery.

First Sentence

Belen, a shantytown suburb of the city of Iquitos, lies on the banks of the Amazon River in eastern Peru, not far from the Brazilian border.

Excerpt

Belen, a shantytown suburb of the city of Iquitos, lies on the banks of the Amazon River in eastern Peru, not far from the Brazilian border.

Subjects

Other Editions

• Yellow fever, black goddess: the coevolution of people and plaguesAddison-Wesley Pub.1996-01-01
• Yellow Fever, Black GoddessAudio CassetteRecorded Books1997-01-01
• Yellow Fever, Black GoddessAddison Wesley Publishing Company1997-09-01