Customer Reviews (1)

The creativity of a "wounded healer"
This is a remarkable book, by the late Dr. Harry Wilmer, who was a distinguished psychiatrist and Jungian analyst. Harry had contacted tuberculosis and in those days "the cure" was rest, meaning being confined to bed for 6 months. During those long days, Harry told me that he imagined the tubercle bacillus inside him, and gave him the name Huber the Tuber. Harry did all of his own drawings and the book went on to win national awards. This book was written many years before I worked with Dr. Wilmer at the University of Texas Medical School at San Antonio but I will always remember Harry's telling me how this book "wrote itself"...he was a wonderful teacher and physician, deeply missed. ... Read more

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The Definitive Text on Tuberculosis Infections for More Than Two Decades!.

.This trusted resource provides infectious disease specialists with the most comprehensive coverage found anywhere of the varied manifestations of tuberculin diseases and the clinical options available to physicians for treating them.The new edition has been updated to reflect state-of-the-art changes in the direction and management of these diseases and contains new chapters on multi-drug resistance and the latest prophylactic strategies. (20060714) ... Read more

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Why is tuberculosis out of control?What prompted a change in U.S. health policy?In the revised edition of the 1994 book, the editor has updated his bestseller to address the new challenge tuberculosis is presenting to both the medical community and the general public. The emphasis in the United States has changed to directly observe treatment, concentrating on foreign-born individuals. Not only do the authors address transmission and control issues, but they offer the latest information concerning the treatment of drug-resistant strains of the disease, HIV-infected patients, and the alarming TB rates in developing countries. ... Read more

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"A chilling account of... the global resurgence of this disease..."--The New York Times

"Tuberculosis--a nineteenth century disease--has come back with a vengeance... Timebomb is the extraordinary story of courage and cowardice in confronting the global TB epidemic."--Donna E. Shalala, former Secretary of Health and Human Services, President of the University of Miami ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

scary and revealing
For those of you unfamiliar with tuberculosis: TB is a life-threatening disease that is caused by bacteria. It is treatable, but the treatment is lengthy (at least 6-8 months) and relatively costly (around $900 in the US). If patients do not receive the correct combination of antibiotics, or if they stop treatment prematurely, they may develop (or transmit) multi-drug-resistant tuberculosis, a disease which is nearly impossible to treat, treatment requiring up to 2 years of taking very expensive (up to $250,000 for 1 case of multi-drug-resistant TB) antibiotics that have a lot of side effects.

In Timebomb Lee Reichman gives a very clear description of all the factors involved in Tb, its treatment, the ways in which such treatment may fail and the dire consequences of failure. He also gives personal account of his experiences with multi-drug-resistant tuberculosis, with an emphasis on the situations in the United States and Russia. In the beginning of the 1990s there was an outbreak of (multi-drug-resistant) tuberculosis is New York: a team of very dedicated public health officials, doctors and community health workers fought the outbreak by treating patients as much as possible at home and were capable of reversing the situation, be it at very high costs (1 billion dollars in excess spending on health care). These costs would have been unnecessary if policy makers had in the past realized the threat that TB poses to the society once you become complacent.

In Russia, on the other hand, doctors are far more influential and there are a lot of very perverse incentives that stigmatise patients to such an extent that they actually do not come forward with their TB: they are locked in hospitals for up to 2 years for treatment and 1 in every 5 TB patients is operated upon, even when these operations are absolutely not necessary. And in prisons everything goes wrong that can go wrong with regard to transmission and control of TB and the emergence of multi-drug-resistant TB: overcrowded prisons, interrupted treatment and amnesty for TB prisoners that have not finished their treatment, And all this combined with an unjustified national pride that prohibits the Russians to ask for help or to accept evidence-based interventions that are promoted by the World Health Organization.

I have worked in a few of the prisons in Russia myself to try and improve the diagnosis of TB and the descriptions are very recognizable for me. I wish I had read this book before I started that job, because it had given me a better understanding of the forces I had to fight against.

anger
This book is captivating and reads well, however I have found myself overcome with rage and anger while reading.Here's a couple of thoughts.First of all intellectual imperialism.Russia lost the cold war -- therefore the achievements of Soviet research, science etc are useless, primitive, unscientific.The author says, for example, that "English is the language of science", and that Russian doctors who speak English and can therefore read scientific literature in English are far more advanced than Russian doctors who only read literature in Russian, since Russian methods of medicine are at least 50 years behind Western ones. (I have never heard of an American scientist, however, who had learned Russian and studied Russian scientific and medical literature.)The author dismisses Russian treatment methods as barbaric just because they are different from the orthodoxy of treatment prescribed in the States.That's one point.Secondly, extremely frustrating is the absense of numerical data or statistics.DOTS is always more effective than the methods used by Russian medics, but no stats or studies as to this issue are ever sited.The one time the author does site a study (Tomsk) where 50 patients treated with DOTS were compared with 50 patients treated with the classical Soviet method, he is forced to admit that the cure rates were equal!!!!!!!So what then of his argument that Soviet medical treatment is not based on evidence and is barbaric?Also, TB was on a steady decline throughout the Soviet period, -- isn't that evidence enough that the Soviet way to treat TB is not entirely bogus?

Thirdly: the comparison between TB treatment in the US and in Russia is entirely inappropriate.It would make far more sense to compare Russia with a country that has similar rates of TB infection in the population, as well as similar economic conditions.

Fourth: The author talks about TB as if all there was to it is inhailing the bacteria.Meanwhile, the facts are that 80-90% of the people exposed to the bacteria never develop the disease.It is only when their immune systems are weakened (by poor nutrition, homelessness, stress, etc etc) that people actually get sick with TB.The author completely ignores the role that the social chaos of post-Soviet times and the sky-rocketing rates of poverty, starvation, malnutrition that followed the establishment of "democracy" play in the tuberculosis epidemic.

Finally: behind the fancy DOTS programme, all that is asked for is a dismantling of the social networks of support.Instead of putting people into hospitals where they will be fed, cared for, and constantly observed by a trained professional for signs of negative reactions to drugs -- make sick people walk to clinics to get anti-TB drugs.Obviously this method of treatment is "more cost effective".But is it really more effective?I would highly doubt it.

A Riveting and Absorbing Book!
This shocking book focuses on the emerging public health threat associated with the rise of multiple drug resistant (MDR) strains of tuberculosis, especially in the former Soviet bloc of countries. In an age when worldwide travel can be accomplished in days if not hours, the connectivity between what is transpiring in the underdeveloped world and within our own borders is more striking than ever before. Therefore, we must recognize the threat posed by the emergence of such strains, and prepare to deal with the almost inevitable outbreaks of such strains of TB as they begin to occur in modern western societies.

This is not an easy read, but it is a quite fascinating and eye-opening one. The spread of MDR tuberculosis with the populations of Russia and the former satellite countries is shocking, and the total number of individuals latently infected now number some two billion people, or over one third of the total world population! Given the inability of modern medicine to counteract the course of the disease or to easily cure people infected with these new strains, the threat posed by them for people in all countries cannot be over-dramatized. Tuberculosis is indeed highly contagious, spreading freely through the air from infected individuals when they speak, cough, or sneeze. The authors refer to it as the "Ebola with wings", making a tacit reference to this most deadly form of hemorrhagic fever which is quite lethal when contracted, but which is thankfully more difficult to spread since (unlike tuberculosis) it is not airborne.

The predictions of its consequences are dire indeed; MDR tuberculosis is anticipated to kill 30,000,000 in the next decade alone. It festers in the more humid and warmer reaches of the earth, from Brazil to India, from Russia to China, and it is especially dangerous in those area of the world that have the poorest existing public health infrastructures. The economic collapse of the former USSR condemned millions to conditions of enforced cohabitation with infected individuals in the most congested, least sanitary, and most poorly equipped social structures in the world. Given such an alarming rise ion incidence and prevalence of the disease entity, the risk for cross-cultural contamination is only a short air-flight away from a looming public health disaster in the small towns and mega-cities of Europe and North America. Indeed, it is hard to engage in hyperbole here to overestimate the threat.

This book is indeed a call to arms, a plea for enlightened action on the part of governments, public health agencies, pharmaceutical research conglomerates, and the general public in order to avoid the terrors that await us if we sit by without doing all we can do to ensure better safeguards and better screening find, isolate, and treat infected individuals before they can lay the groundwork for a tragic and unstoppable epidemic. This is an important and worthwhile book, and one that I heartily recommend.

Timebomb: The Global Epidemic of Multi-Drug-Resistant TB
This lively and well-written book is packed with fascinating nuggets of historical and medical information. From the "dark, Satanic mills" of the Industrial Revolution to the squalid prison cells of contemporary Russia, from Egyptian mummies to DNA fingerprinting, you will follow the trail of the TB bacillus and the heroic researchers and public health workers who remain committed to conquering it.

"Timebomb" is a winner!

Timebomb: The Global Epidemic of Multi-Drug Rfesistant Tuber
Anthrax, shmanthrax.To come down with good, productive anxiety, read about "Ebola with wings"-drug-resistant TB. And no, tuberculosis is not a thing of the past: It's here, it's now, it kills 2 million people every year. Several chapters of this book read like a detective novel. Timebomb starts by showing us Nicolay, a Russian, as he flies into New York in 1998, coughing highly infectious, drug-resistant TB bacteria into the plane's air. Then Timebomb looks into risky-to-work-in TB labs; a Siberian prison (where much of the world's TB is generated); a lung operation; the Russian medical system that's failing to control the bug; and takes us along on the dangerous rounds of an unsung heroine, a public-health worker. The book is not only well written, it's about a threat that individual members of the public can actually do something about-if they know the problem exists. ... Read more

Product Description
Tuberculosis emerged as an epidemic in the 1600s, began to decline as sanitation improved in the 19th century, and retreated further when effective therapy was developed in the 1950s. TB was virtually forgotten until a recent resurgence in the U.S. and around the world-ominously, in forms resistant to commonly used medicines.

What must the nation do to eliminate TB? The distinguished committee from the Institute of Medicine offers recommendations in the key areas of epidemiology and prevention, diagnosis and treatment, funding and organization of public initiatives, and the U.S. role worldwide. The panel also focuses on how to mobilize policy makers and the public to effective action.

The book provides important background on the pathology of tuberculosis, its history and status in the U.S., and the public and private response.

The committee explains how the U.S. can act with both self-interest and humanitarianism in addressing the worldwide incidence of TB. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

More relevant than ever!
Ending Neglect not only sounds a critical alarm, it sets out a road map for how to avoid the coming public health disaster. (Anyone remember the 1.3 billion dollar outbreak in NYC in 1990?) While we have neglected to develop new tools, new drugs and proper treatment for those in need, tuberculosis (TB) has continued to spread in predictable ways. Now that humanity's neglect has resulted in multi-drug resistant and extensively-drug resistant strains of tuberculosis, the clock is ticking in a "24" type of way. The majority of states will be reporting increases of TB cases for 2008 after years of drastic cuts to public health budgets. Our ambitious goal of TB elimination seems a far distant dream as prevention has been pushed aside and surveillance and control safety nets fray.Against this backdrop Ending Neglect provides a clear background on the disease, the fundamentals for TB control and our situation within a global context. Will the Obama administration pay attention? Will it end the neglect? Will states set pound-foolish priorities in tight budget times regarding their public health departments? The jury is still out, but this report goes a long way towards formulating an action plan. ... Read more

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In this first English-language study of popular and scientific responses to tuberculosis in nineteenth-century France, David Barnes provides a much-needed historical perspective on a disease that is making an alarming comeback in the United States and Europe. Barnes argues that French perceptions of the diseaseranging from the early romantic image of a consumptive woman to the later view of a scourge spread by the poorowed more to the power structures of nineteenth-century society than to medical science. By 1900, the war against tuberculosis had become a war against the dirty habits of the working class.Lucid and original, Barnes's study broadens our understanding of how and why societies assign moral meanings to deadly diseases. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A very impressive historical treatment
This book is well-written, persuasive, and very impressive.Highly recommended. ... Read more

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reflect on the progress of the "Stop TB" strategy ... Read more

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A demás de un mapa de ansiedades y deseos. además de un trazado urbanístico. la ciudad es el ámbito de máxima concentración humana. Quizás sea la metáfora más perfecta para entender la actualidad: entre sus muros difíciles de precisar conviven la tradición y el progreso. la vileza y la fantasía. la riqueza y la pobreza. Esta descripción se aplica a las metrópolis de hoy. y también es válida para las del siglo XIX y del siglo XX.En este excelente libro de Diego Armus sobre la tuberculosis. la enfermedad funciona como una suerte de espejo de algunos aspectos constitutivos de la Buenos Aires moderna. en particular entre 1870 y 1950: el veloz crecimiento demográfico y sus consecuencias en el problema de la vivienda. los equipamientos urbanos y las condiciones materiales de vida de la gente. las preocupaciones por las condiciones de reproducción de la fuerza de trabajo y los esfuerzos por construir la raza nacional . los temores al contagio y los empeños de atención. regulación y moralización de las masas urbanas. la sociabilidad y el sexo. Todos estos problemas marcan el horizonte cultural de esas décadas e impregnan discursos o políticas en ámbitos tan diversos como la salud. la educación. el rol del Estado. la esfera privada y la pública. La articulación de estos campos termina produciendo una relación específica entre los que habitan la ciudad. la salud y la enfermedad. Y el develamiento de esa trama y de sus implicancias en la sociedad. es el leitmotiv de este trabajo.El resultado no podría haber sido más logrado. Con una investigación exhaustiva que enriquece cada página. y gracias a una prosa fluida y directa. Armus ha escrito un libro de referencia sobre la tuberculosis. Pero como toda obra histórica de peso. su alcance excede largamente el tema tratado. algo que hace de La cuidad impura un fresco notable de una época clave en la transformación de Buenos Aires. ... Read more

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Through a historical and comparative analysis of modern Japan's epidemic of tuberculosis, William Johnston illuminates a major but relatively unexamined facet of Japanese social and cultural history. He utilizes a broad range of sources, including medical journals and monographs, archaeological evidence, literary works, ethnographic data, and legal and government documents to reveal how this and similar epidemics have been the result of social changes that accompanied the process of modernization. Johnston also shows the ways in which modern states, private organizations, and individual citizens have responded to epidemics, and in the process reexamines the concept of the epidemic itself, showing that epidemics must be thought of not only in medical and biological terms but in political, social and cultural terms as well.

Product Description
New York Univ., NY. Summarizes the current advances in tuberculosis and discusses the pathology and pathogenesis of the disease. Also covers complications and treatment options. Chapters include history and epidemiology, genomics and microbiology, host response, therapy, and prevention and control. Previous edition: c1996. DNLM: Tuberculosis--Pulmonary. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Review of stuart garay's tuberculosis
he made his mother proud.
i couldn't put it down. ... Read more

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Univ. of Colorado, Denver. Clinical synopsis providing essential information for those unfamiliar with the disease. Addresses the problem of managing HIV-positive patients and drug-resistant strains. Discusses, basic science, epidemiology, transmission, vaccination, and prevention. Includes tables, references, and illustrations. Softcover. DNLM: Tuberculosis. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Very informative, a little verbose.
As a non-medical 2nd year uni student I found the book thorough and informative, more than sufficient as a source for assignment information. However I found myself reaching for a dictionary more often than necessary, to make it through words like 'involuted' and so forth. And the pathogenesis section was a little disjointed, it appeared to have conflicting information over the course of pages 66 to 69. Otherwise a very vigorous treatise of TB.

Medical writing at its best.Incredible prose!
Admittedly most medical texts are not "page-turners". This is an exception. Using beautiful prose, Iseman has compiled an excellent piece on this disease of antiquity. It is a joy to read and should be in the library of every physician who concerns him or herself with tuberculosis.

Bottling Excellence
Videophiles may recall a classic TV advertisement (for Prego spaghetti sauce) that featured the tag line, "It's in there!"From the basic tomato paste to the more exotic herbs and spices, the ad line went, if it contributes to a fine spaghetti sauce, "It's in there!"Reading Dr. Iseman's fine new book gives me the same feeling of a complete and satisfying product.A compendium in the very best sense of the word, the text details the history, diagnosis, epidemiology, and treatment of tuberculosis in 14 elegantly-written, easily-digested chapters.My guess is that the secret ingredient in this impressive work is Dr. Iseman's obvious respect both for the disease and for those historical figures who struggled, sometimes heroically, to understand and to overcome it. And, as for Excellence...it's in there.

The definitive TB text
Those of us in the field of TB know Mike Iseman as one of the giants and this textbook provides an invaluable guide for the treatment of this spreading disease.He deftly mixes historical perspective with clinicalwisdom to achieve that rare combination of an edifying text that isactually pleasant to read.I can honestly say that I found myself readingthis book not just as a reference, but as a work of literature--a rarecomplement, indeed, in the world of medical writing.The writing issuperb, the research is cutting edge, and the book is a must have foranyone who deals with TB. ... Read more

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Known as "The Great Killer" and "The White Plague," few diseases influenced American life as much as tuberculosis. Sufferers migrated to mountain or desert climates believed to ameliorate symptoms. Architects designed homes with sleeping porches and verandas so sufferers could spend time in the open air. The disease even developed its own consumer culture complete with invalid beds, spittoons, sputum collection devices, and disinfectants. The "preventorium," an institution designed to protect children from the ravages of the disease, emerged in this era of Progressive ideals in public health.

In this book, Cynthia A. Connolly provides a provocative analysis of public health and family welfare through the lens of the tuberculosis preventorium. This unique facility was intended to prevent TB in indigent children from families labeled irresponsible or at risk for developing the disease. Yet, it also held deeply rooted assumptions about class, race, and ethnicity.Connolly goes further to explain how the child-saving themes embedded in the preventorium movement continue to shape children's health care delivery and family policy in the United States. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

I was a child of the Preventorium System in 1962 Magee Mississippi
I "met" Dr. Connolly on the phone a few years ago after I started a Yahoo Chat Room ([...] ).Through that medium I found Dr. Connolly. She was researching for this book at that time and interviewed me. I think my input was only a couple of pages, but that isn't the point. The point is that this book brought closure to my time at the Preventorium like nothing else has.My journey began many years ago in therapy where I learned an awful lot about me and why I am who I am. All that money and time, however, never revealed bits and pieces of me like this book does.

Just be warned that most of us DON'T REMEMBER until we are forced to remember and there is a very good reason for that. It took a lot of therapy before I was able to let myself remember. I discovered a world that most children thankfully never know, albeit a world that, in my case, if I had not known I likely would not be here to talk about it. I am not saying don't dig, I am only saying to be as prepared as you can be to learn what you will. Even though the child was you, you WILL feel an unbelievable compassion for that child. You may, like me, find out that you are who you are because of that child.

Most of the people who lived the preventorium life are gone. There are only a few of us left in this world. I invite you, NO, I encourage you to read Dr. Connolly's book. I also encourage you to come to my Yahoo Chat Room and meet those of us I have managed to find. It started out as only for the children of the Magee Mississippi Preventorium, but I have found others as well as far away as Yoder Health Camp in California.

Trust me, this book is something you cannot afford to miss.

Good luck, Cindy Hale ... Read more

Product Description
Tuberculosis is one of the leading causes of death in the world today, with 4,500 people dying from the disease every day. Many cases of TB can be cured by available antibiotics, but some TB is resistant to multiple drugs--a major and growing threat worldwide. The Institute of Medicine's Forum on Drug Discovery, Development, and Translation hosted a workshop on November 5, 2008, to address the mounting concern of drug-resistant TB. The session brought together a wide range of international experts to discuss what is known and not known about this growing threat, and to explore possible solutions. ... Read more

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Peter Davies, the editor of the major reference work Clinical Tuberculosis and his co-author Peter Ormerod have compiled this series of 100 cases to cover virtually every aspect of tuberculosis that a physician will encounter, including cases from around the world. Whether you are looking for straightforward introductory cases, those which are easy to manage but hard to diagnose or cases with the management problems associated with poor compliance, emergent drug resistance or the development of concomitant disease, relevant examples are included here, featuring failures, as well as successes. ... Read more

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New York University, New York City. Handbook of 75 clinical case presentations in tuberculosis, with diagnosis, one-page discussion, and pearls. For residents and medical students. Halftone illustrations. DNLM: Tuberculosis, Pulmonary - diagnosis - case studies. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Outstanding clinical resource
This book has 75 cases of tuberculosis and problems that masqerade as TB. The cases are from Bellevue Hospital, which is very well known for TB. The cases are interesting and the discussions are very clear and instructive. ... Read more

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As HIV spreads across the developing countries of the world, a second epidemic is never far behind. Tuberculosis has become the principal emerging infection and cause of death in AIDS patients. This report summarizes the current state of tuberculosis research and control and aims to: describe the global burden of tuberculosis and predict likely trends over the next decade with special attention to the HIV epidemic; identify and prioritize major research issues; and address specific questions relating to: diagnosis and clinical management; immunology and vaccinations; chemoprophylaxis; drug therapy and control strategies; and resource allocation. ... Read more

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New Jersey Medical School National Tuberculosis Center and International Center for Public Health, Newark. Thoroughly examines tuberculosis from historical, theoretical, and clinical perspectives, including the most current discoveries. Previous edition: c1993. ... Read more