Originally published: London: Williams Collins, 2019. Includes bibliographical references and index.
Contents:
What are viruses? -- Coughs and sneezes spread diseases -- A plague upon a plague -- Every parent's nightmare -- A bug versus a virus -- A coincidental paralysis -- Deadly viruses -- An all-American plague -- Lurker viruses -- How flue viruses reinvent themselves -- A lesson from a Machiavellian virus -- The mystery of Ebola -- The Mercurial nature of the Zika virus -- A taste for the liver -- Warts and all -- Lilliputian giants -- Are viruses alive? -- Inspiring terror, and delight -- The ecology of the oceans -- The virosphere -- The origins of the Placental mammals -- Viruses in the origins of life -- The fourth domain?
Summary:
A fascinating and long overdue examination of viruses from what they are and what they do, to the vital role they have played in human history. What are viruses? Do they rely on genes, like all other forms of life? Do they follow the same patterns of evolution as plants and animals? Frank Ryan answers these questions and many more in a sweeping tour of illnesses caused by viruses. For example, the common cold, measles, chicken pox, herpes and mumps, rubella, as well as less familiar examples, such as rabies, 'breakbone' fever, haemorrhagic fevers like Ebola, and virus-induced cancers. Along the way, readers will learn about the behaviours and ultimate goals of viruses, gaining a deeper understanding of their importance in relation to the origins and the evolution of life, as well as they ways viruses have changed us at the most intimate level, to help make us quintessentially human.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.