Catching Breath: The Making and Unmaking of Tuberculosis

Description

Tuberculosis is an ancient disease, but it's not a disease of history. With more than a million victims every year - more than any other disease, including malaria - and antibiotic resistance now found in every country worldwide, tuberculosis is once again proving itself to be one of the smartest killers humanity has ever faced. But it's hardly surprising considering how long it's had to hone its skills. Forty-thousand years ago, our ancestors set off from the cradle of civilisation on their journey towards populating the planet. Tuberculosis hitched a lift and came with us, and it's been there ever since; waiting, watching, and learning. In The Robber of Youth, former TB research scientist Kathryn Lougheed tells the story of how tuberculosis and humanity have grown up together, with each shaped by the other in more ways than you might imagine. This relationship between man and microbe has spanned many millennia and has left its mark on both species. We can see evidence of its constant shadow in our genes; in the bones of the ancient dead; in art, music and literature. Tuberculosis has shaped societies - and it continues to do so today. The organism responsible, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, has had plenty of time to adapt to its chosen habitat - human lungs - and has learnt through natural selection to be an almost perfect pathogen. Using our own immune cells as a Trojan Horse to aid its spread, it's come up with clever ways to avoid being killed by antibiotics. But patience has been its biggest lesson - it can enter into a latent state when times are tough, only to come back to life when a host's immune system is compromised. Today, more than one million people die of the disease every year and around one-third of the world's population are believed to be infected. That's more than two billion people. Throw in the compounding problems of drug resistance, the HIV epidemic and poverty, and it's clear that tuberculosis remains one of the most serious problems in world medicine. The Robber of Youth follows the history of TB through the ages, from its time as an infection of hunter-gatherers to the first human villages, which set it up with everything it needed to become the monstrous disease it is today, through to the perils of industrialisation and urbanisation. It goes on to look at the latest research in fighting the disease, with stories of modern scientific research, interviews with doctors on the TB frontline, and the personal experiences of those affected by the disease.

Kathryn Lougheed worked in tuberculosis research for more than ten years, focusing on the biological mechanisms of latent tuberculosis and small molecule drug discovery. She completed her PhD at Imperial College London in 2006, before moving to the National Institute for Medical Research where she collaborated with industrial partners to develop inhibitors targeted against Mycobacterium tuberculosis, followed by further research at Imperial. During her career, Kathryn published dozens of peer-reviewed papers and was an active member of the tuberculosis research community. Now a science writer, The Robber of Youth is her first book. @ilovebacteria / germzoo.blogspot.co.uk/

Lougheed captures the past 20 years or so of TB research with an insider's eye ... the fascinating pathogen and its deadly interactions with its host fuel Lougheed's book. Through her passion, many others may find inspiration. * Science * An impressive survey. * New York Times Book Review * Kathryn Lougheed gives an illuminating tour of TB past and present, explaining why it has once again become the world's leading infectious killer and describing the myriad reasons why we have still not defeated it. -- Mike Mandelbaum, Chief Executive, TB Alert Tuberculosis is currently the leading cause of infectious deaths across the world and has proven difficult to address with drugs or vaccines. Kathryn Lougheed pulls back the curtain on this forgotten pandemic and reveals the biology of a pathogen that has achieved world domination in an engaging, accessible and yes, occasionally even humorous fashion. -- Sarah Fortune, MS, Professor of Immunology and Infectious Diseases, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health Kathryn Lougheed conveys the excitement and frustrations of cutting edge research in a convivial and accessible manner that will delight and inform both specialist and non-specialist readers. -- Douglas B. Young, Fleming Professor of Medical Microbiology, Imperial College London