A really well researched book on our knowledge of viruses, or lack of as well as the potential of the chances of a great plague arising out of them. Easy to read even if you don't want to understand the threat and how it may come about. As well writen as the Richard Preston books and much more thorough.
Dr. Frank Ryan is the author of this very readable and disturbing book regarding the "new" viruses emerging today; Ebola, AIDS, "flesh eating bacteria". Even old plagues are making a comeback. Will there be a lethal and incurable Virus X that spreads as easily as the common cold? Dr. Ryan presents a radical new theory, and takes you into the "hot zones" of outbreaks, research labs and hospitals where doctors and scientists are trying to control them.
The author's discussion of select emerging and reemerging diseases, such as the hemorrhagic fevers and AIDS, was enthralling. The aggressive symbiont hypothesis is an interesting concept, but I felt that Ryan's presentation of the possible coevolution of viruses with their new human hosts to be incomplete. Even so, it's absolutely fascinating to think that the viruses that are responsible for emerging diseases like AIDS might someday coevolve with humans and lose their virulence.
