Biography of a Germ by Arno Karlen

From the Publisher

Arno Karlen, author of Man and Microbes, focuses on a single bacterium in Biography of a Germ, giving us an intimate view of a life that has been shaped by and is in turn transforming our own.

Borrelia burgdorferi is the germ that causes Lyme disease. In existence for some hundred million years, it was discovered only recently. Exploring its evolution, its daily existence, and its journey from ticks to mice to deer to humans, Karlen lucidly examines the life and world of this recently prominent germ. He also describes how it attacks the human body, and how by changing the environment, people are now much more likely to come into contact with it. Charming and thorough and smart, this book is a wonderfully written biography of your not so typical biographical subject.

Publishers Weekly

The germ is Borrelia burgdorferi, Bb for short, and causes Lyme disease in the people it infects: before it hits a human, Bb has to reside in three other animals--a mouse, a tick and a deer, in that order. This odd property, and the germ's wide distribution, means that Bb has been affected by changes in human land use--factories, clear-cuts, the growth of the suburbs and the environmental movement all had to happen for Lyme to become something Americans think about. And think about it we do: Bb is now so interesting that in 1997 scientists mapped its genome. All these facets make Bb the ideal candidate for what Karlen (Man and Microbes, etc.) claims is the first history of a pathogen written from that pathogen's perspective. Fascinating in their own right, Bb and its relatives also demonstrate larger patterns and questions in the study and history of microbes and molecular biology, of zoology and ecology, of medicine, public health policy and disease. In 22 brief chapters, Karlen lays out and answers some of those questions. He tells of Bb's sibling spirochetes, which cause syphilis and tropical diseases. He explains how ticks' adaptations let them parasitize "a chipmunk or a human," "a wren or a raccoon," and how Bb's adaptations let it jump between ticks and their hosts. Karlen has created a vigorous, compact account of Bb's life and times. And beyond the zoology and disease control, Karlen even offers a message: "Pathogens... are just trying to survive, and sometimes they must do so at other creatures' expense." The same could be said of humans." (June) Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.|

Library Journal

The story of Borrelia burgdorferi (Bb), the microorganism that causes Lyme disease, should interest a wide audience, especially in North America, where much of the narrative unfolds. Psychoanalyst Karlen has a predilection for the social history of disease (his other books include Napoleon's Glands and Other Ventures in Biohistory; Man and Microbes: Disease and Plagues in History and Modern Times). Here, the author traces the social and environmental changes that might have caused the spread of Lyme disease. The early chapters are particularly well done, especially "Apologia pro vita sua," a spirited defense of the microbial world. As it is written for the general reader, the text would have benefited from additional illustrations to reinforce complicated details, such as Bb's life cycle, in the minds of readers. Suitable for all public libraries.--Leila Fernandez, Steacie Science Lib., York Univ,, Toronto Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.\

Booknews

Karlan, a psychoanalyst who has written several books on history and biomedical science, delves into the evolution and day-to-day life of Borrelia burgdorferi (Bb), the germ that causes Lyme disease, from the germ's point of view. An index and some sort of reference list would have proved useful. Readers explore Bb's life cycle, its search for a host, and its relationships with these hosts, including humans. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

The New York Times - Bernstein

[An] informative and clever little book...when he gets to Bb itself, Mr. Karlen's book becomes informative and entertaining at the same time, a fine piece of popular science writing that covers the biological basics for those who do not know them but covers them stylishly enough for the more informed to gain insight, too.

The New York Times Book Review - Malcolm Farley

Arno Karlen has written a charming profile of a distinctly uncharming microorganism: Borrelia burgdorferi (or Bb), the bacterium that causes Lyme disease...Biography of a Germ is more than an elegant detour through the back roads of microbial ecology.

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