Secret Agents: The Menace of Emerging Infections

326 Pages·2002·5.34 MB·English

by  Madeline Drexler

SECRET
AGENTS
THE MENACE
OF
EMERGING
INFECTIONS
Madeline Drexler
Joseph Henry Press
Washington, D.C.
JOSEPH HENRY PRESS • 2101 Constitution Avenue, N.W. • Washington, D.C. 20418
The Joseph Henry Press, an imprint of the National Academy Press, was cre-
ated with the goal of making books on science, technology, and health more
widely available to professionals and the public. Joseph Henry was one of the
founders of the National Academy of Sciences and a leader in early American
science.
Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this
volume are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the
National Academy of Sciences or its affiliated institutions.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Drexler, Madeline, 1954-
Secret agents : the menace of emerging infections / Madeline
Drexler.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-309-07638-2
1. Epidemiology—Popular works. 2. Communicable
diseases—United States. I. Title.
RA653 .D74 2002
614.4—dc21
2001007832
Cover design by Bill Stanton. Cover photography by David Oliver/Getty Im-
ages and Stephen Mautner.
Illustrations by Kathryn Born.
Copyright 2002 by the National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
Printed in the United States of America.
Contents
1 Disease in Disguise 1
2 Winged Victories 19
3 Food Fright 74
4 Superbugs 119
5 The Once and Future Pandemic 158
6 Infection Unmasked 201
7 Bioterror 231
8 Think Locally, Act Globally 275
Selected Bibliography 291
Index 297
iii

Acknowledgments
B
ook writing is a group activity. I am grateful to many people,
both new acquaintances and old friends, for sharing their exper-
tise and their enthusiasm.
Thank you to the scientists and physicians who reviewed chapters
and offered valuable comments: Steve Brickner, Jim Hughes, Tom
Inglesby, Jim LeDuc, David Morens, Mike Osterholm, and Bob Shope.
During the course of researching this subject, I was privileged to have
wide-ranging conversations with Fred Angulo, Bill Foege, Patty Grif-
fin, Duane Gubler, Peggy Hamburg, D. A. Henderson, Donald
Hopkins, Jim Hughes, Marci Layton, Tracey McNamara, David
Morens, Steve Morse, Mike Osterholm, Tara O’Toole, C. J. Peters,
David Relman, Jeff Taubenberger, and Rob Tauxe. I am also deeply
obliged to the nearly 250 researchers who granted me interviews.
v
vi ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I am especially beholden to Joshua Lederberg, who chaired the
Institute of Medicine’s Forum on Emerging Infections, for his vision-
ary leadership on this issue. Thank you to Ken Shine, president of the
Institute of Medicine, for championing this book. And thanks to
Jonathan Davis, who made me welcome at the Forum’s workshops.
My gratitude goes to the Eli Lilly and Company Foundation, for
their generous sponsorship of this project, and to Gail Cassell, for her
persistence and dedication in arranging this support. At the National
Museum of Natural History, ornithologist Carla Dove and her col-
leagues saved the day with a bird-in-hand.
I owe a great deal to my colleagues at Joseph Henry Press: my
editor Stephen Mautner, for inviting me to write about this fascinating
topic and for his unwavering confidence in me; Ann Merchant and
Robin Pinnel, for getting out the word; and all the staff who took so
much care with this book.
Caroline DeFilippo was my whirlwind research assistant. While
completing her undergraduate degree at Harvard University, she some-
how found the time to scour the school’s vast libraries for the most
arcane references. I look forward to watching Caroline’s own career in
public health unfold, and to catching up together over Bartley’s ham-
burgers-and-fries. During the summer of 1999, I also received research
help from Harvard student Navaz Karanjia. Thank you to Sharon
Crandall and Phyllis Strimling at the Radcliffe Research Partnership,
for underwriting this assistance.
For practical advice and on-call cheerleading and for putting up
with my authorial anxieties, I am indebted to Suzanne Berne, Cynthia
Enloe, the Graff family, Ann Parson, Joni Seager, Joe Shay, Seth
Shulman, and Pat Thomas. Thank you to Marcia Bartusiak, for match-
ing author and editor. And thanks to Kevin Shay, who after a desperate
email plea quickly came up with the title. My mother, Barbara Drexler,
and my siblings, Michael Drexler and Suzanne Drexler, were always
behind me. My dear father, Milton Drexler, passed away during the
early phases of this project, but I think he would have slipped this
volume in the stack of histories and biographies he always had going.
Acknowledgments vii
I was lucky to have a superb editorial team. My dear friend and
writing buddy Laura Zimmerman read each chapter several times, al-
ways with a thoughtful and penetrating analysis, always making me
answer the question, Who cares? For the last time, let me say to Laura:
I couldn’t have done it without you. Chris Jerome deftly edited the
final manuscript, and gave me warm encouragement when my spirits
were flagging.
My most beloved critic, E. J. Graff, not only edited every draft of
every chapter until I got it right, but cooked the soup and rented the
videos and arranged our Saturday nights. I thank E. J. for believing in
me and for making my life better in every way.
January 2002

SECRET
AGENTS