"This is an excellent book. It should be read by all who are interested in any aspect of Tuberculosis, including the growing problem of Multi-Drug Resistant Tuberculosis." Journal of American Medical Association "The book serves an important function, relaying statistics and TB hot spots, proposing funding and international standardized treatments. Government officials, researchers and nonprofit health organizations will likely cast this as the authoritative book on the subject." Publishers Weekly "Like other recent works on the threat of infectious diseases such as Laurie Garrett's The Coming Plague, Timebomb has the power of fiction and it is sometimes easy to forget that it is not. Unlike the Garrett book, which is more a collection of short dramatic stories collectively telling a big picture about our coexistence and evolution with microbes, Reichman selects one story and presents it in novel form with better material that most science fiction. The book is organized in a clear and riveting manner. Within the narrative style, the book is rich with up-to-the-minute details and references that add to its depth. An incredible account of politics and disease dynamics occurring at all levels, Timebomb helps us realize that controlling or eradicating TB is not just about science and facts; likely if it were, TB would have long been relegated to the history books." Nature Medicine Magazine Tuberculosis, supposedly defeated by antibiotics half a century ago, has returned in a highly contagious and fatal new form that cannot be treated with conventional drugs. Multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB), could cause some 10 million deaths over the next decade and is thriving in the overcrowded prisons of the former Soviet Union. As Timebomb explains in unnerving detail, the virtual collapse of the world's borders means that refugees, tourists, immigrants, business travelers, and others can spread the TB bacillus very efficiently. London, for example, has experienced a 100% increase in reported cases in the past 10 years. Written by the world's preeminent TB expert and an award-winning medical and health writer, Timebomb details the evolution and the current state of the MDR-TB epidemic, interweaving the science of MDR-TB with personal stories of people whose lives have been threatened by the deadly bacteria.

Worse yet this ancient disease is undergoing a metamorphosis, adapting to our misused medications, growing stronger, becoming unbeatable - becoming multi-drug-resistant."--BOOK JACKET.

This is the story of a killer that has been striking people down for thousands of years: tuberculosis. After centuries of ineffective treatments, the microorganism that causes TB was identified, and the cure was thought to be within reach--but drug-resistant varieties continue to plague and panic the human race. The "biography" of this deadly germ, an account of the diagnosis, treatment, and "cure" of the disease over time, and the social history of an illness that could strike anywhere but was most prevalent among the poor are woven together in an engrossing, carefully researched narrative. Bibliography, source notes, index.

The product of collaboration between anthropologists, geographers, sociologists, and even a chemist, this volume delves into the design and implementation of 'global' bio-security interventions.

The COVID-19 pandemic has laid bare the world's vulnerabilities to health and economic ruin from disease outbreaks. But the pandemic merely reveals fundamental weaknesses and contradictions in global health. What are the roots of discontents in global health? How do geo-politics, power dynamics, knowledge gaps, racism, and corruption affect global health? Is foreign aid for health due for a radical overhaul?This book is an incisive guide to the practice of global health in real life. Global health policy is at a crossroads. It is on trial at the interface between the Global North and the Global South. There has been remarkable progress in health outcomes over the past century. Yet, countries face a complex landscape of lofty ambitions in the form of political commitments to Universal Health Coverage, Human Capital, and Global Health Security. These ambitions are tempered by multiple constraints. Investors in global health must navigate a minefield of uneven progress, great expectations, and denials of scientific evidence by entrenched interests. That terrain is further complicated by the hegemonic suppression of innovation that threatens the status quo and by self-perpetuating cycles of dependency of the Global South on the Global North.This book is an unflinching scrutiny of concepts and cases by a veteran of global health policy and practice. It holds a mirror to the world and lays out pathways to a better future. The book is a must-have GPS for policy makers and practitioners as they navigate the maze of global health.

This resource provides a concise and articulate critique of this age-old dilemma with practical suggestions for its resolution.

This book focuses on the era during which the cause of tuberculosis had been identified, and public health officials were seeking to prevent it, but scientists had not yet found a cure. By examining tuberculosis comparatively in two Atlantic port cities, Buenos Aires and Philadelphia, it explores the medical, political and economic settings in which patients, physicians and urban officials lived and worked. Reber discusses the causes of tuberculosis, treatments and public health efforts to stop contagion, and how factors such as gender, age, class, nationality, beliefs and previous experiences shaped patient responses, and often defined the type of treatment.