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Title: Bull's-Eye: Unraveling the Mystery of Lyme Disease by Jonathan A. Edlow ISBN: 0-300-09867-7 Publisher: Yale Univ Pr Pub. Date: April, 2003 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $29.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.86 (7 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Finding Answers Despite Ourselves
Comment: We have AIDS, SARS, West Nile Virus, and other deadly infectious diseases to make headlines. It might seem that a recounting of the search for the cause of Lyme disease and a treatment for it would lack import. Lyme disease is not insignificant; it isn't as deadly as other newsworthy infections, but it has affected hundreds of thousands of Americans, and can cause symptoms from the curious but unthreatening (like a "bull's eye" pattern of a rash) to arthritis, nerve damage, meningitis, and heart disease. _Bull's-Eye: Unraveling the Medical Mystery of Lyme_ Disease (Yale) by Jonathan A. Edlow, M.D., is a valuable addition to the chronicles of detective work that have led to our understanding, and sometimes treating, serious illness. As in most such stories, this is a tale of triumph, but it is muted; there is still a good deal of confusion and ill-will among patients, doctors, and their lawyers regarding the illness.
Lyme disease was first recognized in the US in Connecticut in 1975. It is caused by a corkscrew-shaped bacterium called _Borrelia burgdorferi_, but it is spread by what epidemiologists call a "vector," in this case the deer tick. The flurry of investigation of the disease was sparked by patients who could not get proper answers from their physicians, and were only eventually referred to Yale University, where the departments of rheumatology, epidemiology, and even ecology started investigating. Thus began the effort to get an epidemiological grip on the phenomenon. Gradually the patterns of the illness itself became clearer. There were stages, first a skin rash, then joint pain, but the connection between the two was uncertain. There was associated meningitis, facial paralysis, inflammation of the heart muscle, and disturbance of heart rhythm in some cases. Though Edlow charts the course of greater understanding of the disease, and makes a good case for pure and applied science eventually producing an accurate concept of the disease and its effects, he describes also the missteps and clinical errors, as well as the personality clashes, the human aspects of scientific endeavor which hamper progress.
In fact, the book ends on a rather sad note of discord. Yes, there has been a boom in knowledge about the disease, and Edlow rightly draws on inspiring stories of other epidemiological success, like the connection of cholera to an infected water supply in nineteenth century London, the development of Koch's postulates as a tool for infectious disease investigation, and the degrees of precision in increasingly complicated laboratory tests. Patients with a sense of independence began to question the theories of the disease's course and treatment, and support groups sprouted up. Some of the groups began to favor the conventional school of treatment and the physicians who followed it, while others preferred alternative methods (not alternative as in homeopathy or acupuncture, just alternative to the prevailing theory). There seem to have been organized efforts to censure doctors on one side or the other, some of whom have had to have bodyguards from time to time. There has been acrimony at professional meetings. Edlow found that those who were helpful when he began writing his book in 1993 made themselves unavailable for interview in 2000, presumably because of the politicization of the controversies. Edlow writes, "Nature goes about its business quite independently of those humans who try to uncover its secrets." _Bull's-Eye_ is documentation that nature is hard enough to understand, and human nature gets in the way of even the best scientific efforts.
Rating: 5
Summary: Bull's Eye Unravelling the Medical Mystery of Lyme's Disease
Comment: This book is an excellent addition to your medical library.
The author discusses outbreaks of arthritis and dermatitis
and distinguishes these from Lyme's disease. The author
describes the genetic sequence of bugs and causality in
Lyme's Disease. He offers an increase in the tick population and
arthropoda as Lyme's disease antagonists. In polling,
a strong minority of Lyme's victims recall having had a tick
bite. Humans tend to be hosts for ticks. The IFA test tells
researchers whether or not the patient produces germ
antibodies for the Lyme's disease. Some ticks have multiple
toxins and this aspect is problematic for uniform diagnosis.
Finally , the diagnostic measurements are imperfect.
This book provides a badly needed perspective on Lyme's
Disease. It is highly recommended for your personal health
library. The work would be helpful in assisting you
to make a diagnosis of the disease process because the
patient symptoms and blood chemistry results are not always
conclusive. This book points toward important distinguishing
factors critical to making a correct diagnosis. In addition,
it names important clinicians in the medicinal art.
Rating: 5
Summary: A Fast-Paced Historical Mystery
Comment: Its not often a layperson can be introduced to complex science and come away learning, understanding and appreciating technical issues while enjoying the process. Jonathan Edlow accomplishes all this and more. In addition to allowing the reader to quickly and easily learn and understand the subtleties of Lyme disease and a wide range of related medical topics, the author also introduces us to a broad cast of characters: Lyme disease victims, their families and protagonists; sophisticated academic researchers on several continents; medical sleuths with the single-mindedness of hounds on the hunt; and physician-healers struggling to make sense of the unknown and unknowable as they treat their suffering patients. Edlow makes them all real human beings and allows us to get into their minds and see the mystery of Lyme disease from each different viewpoint. Finally, Edlow assembles all this in a fast-paced mystery story decorated with historical examples and analogies that makes it clear to the reader that discovery and history are unfolding in each exciting chapter.
Bulls Eye is a great read. If Dr. Edlow can repeat this accomplishment in arenas other than medicine, he will be widely recognized as another John McPhee.
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Title: Everything You Need to Know About Lyme Disease and Other Tick-Borne Disorders, 2nd Edition by Karen Vanderhoof-Forschner ISBN: 0471407933 Publisher: John Wiley & Sons Pub. Date: 14 March, 2003 List Price(USD): $15.95 |
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Title: Coping with Lyme Disease : A Practical Guide to Dealing with Diagnosis and Treatment, Second Edition by Denise V. Lang, Joseph Territo ISBN: 0805047751 Publisher: Henry Holt & Company, Inc. Pub. Date: 15 April, 1997 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: The 2002 Official Patient's Sourcebook on Lyme Disease by James N., Md. Parker, Philip M., Ph.D. Parker ISBN: 0597831696 Publisher: ICON Health Publications Pub. Date: June, 2002 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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Title: The Widening Circle : A Lyme Disease Pioneer Tells Her Story by Polly Murray ISBN: 0312140681 Publisher: St. Martin's Press Pub. Date: 15 April, 1996 List Price(USD): $23.95 |
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Title: Lyme Disease by Ronald L. Hoffman ISBN: 0879836172 Publisher: McGraw-Hill/Contemporary Books Pub. Date: 11 January, 1999 List Price(USD): $3.95 |
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