A Planet of Viruses. By Carl Zimmer. Chicago (Illinois): University of Chicago Press. $20.00. xii + 109 p.; ill.; index. ISBN: 978-0-226-98335-6. 2011.
2012; University of Chicago Press; Volume: 87; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1086/668195
ISSN1539-7718
Autores Tópico(s)Zoonotic diseases and public health
ResumoPrevious articleNext article FreeReviews and Brief NoticesA Planet of Viruses. By Carl Zimmer. Chicago (Illinois): University of Chicago Press. $20.00. xii + 109 p.; ill.; index. ISBN: 978-0-226-98335-6. 2011.Kathryn A. HanleyKathryn A. HanleyBiology, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, New Mexico Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUSFull Text Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditEmailQR Code SectionsMoreThrough his many books and articles, Carl Zimmer has blazed a trail for a citizenry lost in scientific illiteracy. In Planet of Viruses, he offers a guide to the viruses, the smallest and yet most abundant and diverse form of life on Earth. Viruses cause illness, yes, but they also remodel prokaryotic and eukaryotic genomes, shape global carbon flux, and kill disease-causing bacteria. The author explains how each of these effects have been discovered, but does so in such a subtle and entertaining fashion that readers are unlikely to realize that they are receiving an introductory course in the scientific method along with their virology. For example, in his chapter on papillomaviruses, he describes the horn-shaped protuberances that sometimes grow from the heads of rabbits, which may be the origin of the mythical jackalope, and walks readers through the experiments used to discover that papillomaviruses are the cause of these tumors as well as cervical cancer in humans.The volume also covers the benefits and potential harms of various antiviral measures, such as vaccines and drugs, in several chapters. These issues are intriguing and timely, but I do worry that in his attempts to cover every possible concern raised about human papillomavirus vaccines, Zimmer may leave unsophisticated readers with the impression that these particular vaccines “don't work,” when in fact clinical trials to date indicate that they are highly effective in preventing genital warts and, more importantly, cervical cancer.Finally, in such a slim volume there are bound to be topics that do not receive sufficient attention; here Zimmer gives the immune system short shrift even while invoking it as a force of selection driving viral evolution. I also wish that he had discussed the evolutionary underpinnings of variation in virulence. The book includes a chapter on rhinovirus, a cause of the common cold and a quintessential “mild” virus, as well as a chapter on its polar opposite, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus, commonly known as SARS, but does not attempt to explain why such extreme variation in pathogenicity exists. It is my hope that readers intrigued by these questions will look further for their answers; I suggest they start their search in the larger body of work by Carl Zimmer. Previous articleNext article DetailsFiguresReferencesCited by The Quarterly Review of Biology Volume 87, Number 4December 2012 Published in association with Stony Brook University Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/668195 For permission to reuse, please contact [email protected]PDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.
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