These diseases can't be well understood. until the principles of zoonotic spillover are. understood. Secondly, a large part of my book is de-. voted to these big ...
AUTHOR INTERVIEW
THE AUTHOR OF SPILLOVER IS A SCIENCE JOURNALIST
“Intrepid disease ecologists are hiking into forests, climbing through caves,… and sleuthing the mysteries of reservoir host and spillover.” David Quammen
THE ROYAL SCOTTISH GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY JOURNAL
Winter 2013 -14 Zoonoses Reservoirs, reasons and the role of viruses • RSGS’s First ‘Explorer-in Residence’ • Zoonotic Geographies – A Multi-Faceted Issue • Viruses, Evolution & Spillover • Living Patterns, Vaccines & Vermin •
Book
A journey of zoonotic discovery
Many of the students I teach will no doubt enjoy David Quammen’s Spillover: Animal Infections and the Next Human Pandemic; they are always excited about patients haemorrhaging blood everywhere, there being no cure, and the arguments about what happens next. Quammen’s fast-paced book tracks various zoonotic pathogens across the globe as he tells the contrasting stories of, among others, Hendra virus infection, the viral haemorrhagic fevers caused by Marburg or Ebola virus, severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), and HIV/AIDS. Quammen makes it clear from the outset that if we are to halt this epidemic of zoonotic cases we must stop destroying natural ecosystems at a “cataclysmic rate”. And it’s from this perspective that Quammen relates his account of these viruses, making the point that “It’s not that they target us especially. It’s just that we are so obtrusively, abundantly available.” Readers will be enthralled by his tales of tramping into caves looking for bats and pythons and even the odd cobra, or feeding gorillas in central Africa. Quammen does this well, keeping back from the action and documenting his encounters with the experts. We follow the author as he interviews scientists, survivors, and local people in horse farms, jungles, and high-biosecurity laboratories in such countries as Bangladesh, the Congo, and China. As we travel alongside him, we realise that each chapter is essentially a mixture of news and research fi ndings, with interviews and travelogue thrown in.
“Intrepid disease ecologists are hiking into forests, climbing through caves,… and sleuthing the mysteries of reservoir host and spillover.” David Quammen
THE ROYAL SCOTTISH GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY JOURNAL
Winter 2013 -14 Zoonoses Reservoirs, reasons and the role of viruses • RSGS’s First ‘Explorer-in Residence’ • Zoonotic Geographies – A Multi-Faceted Issue • Viruses, Evolution & Spillover • Living Patterns, Vaccines & Vermin •
Book
A journey of zoonotic discovery
Many of the students I teach will no doubt enjoy David Quammen’s Spillover: Animal Infections and the Next Human Pandemic; they are always excited about patients haemorrhaging blood everywhere, there being no cure, and the arguments about what happens next. Quammen’s fast-paced book tracks various zoonotic pathogens across the globe as he tells the contrasting stories of, among others, Hendra virus infection, the viral haemorrhagic fevers caused by Marburg or Ebola virus, severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), and HIV/AIDS. Quammen makes it clear from the outset that if we are to halt this epidemic of zoonotic cases we must stop destroying natural ecosystems at a “cataclysmic rate”. And it’s from this perspective that Quammen relates his account of these viruses, making the point that “It’s not that they target us especially. It’s just that we are so obtrusively, abundantly available.” Readers will be enthralled by his tales of tramping into caves looking for bats and pythons and even the odd cobra, or feeding gorillas in central Africa. Quammen does this well, keeping back from the action and documenting his encounters with the experts. We follow the author as he interviews scientists, survivors, and local people in horse farms, jungles, and high-biosecurity laboratories in such countries as Bangladesh, the Congo, and China. As we travel alongside him, we realise that each chapter is essentially a mixture of news and research fi ndings, with interviews and travelogue thrown in.
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