The Living Medicine by Lina Zeldovich

The Living Medicine by Lina Zeldovich

Longlist for the PEN/E. O Wilson Literary Science Writing Award

A remarkable story of the scientists behind a long-forgotten and life-saving cure: the healing viruses that can conquer antibiotic resistant bacterial infections

First discovered in 1917, bacteriophages--or "phages"--are living medicines: viruses that devour bacteria. Ubiquitous in the environment, they are found in water, soil, inside plants and animals, and in the human body.

When phages were first recognized as medicines, their promise seemed limitless. Grown by research scientists and physicians in France, the Soviet Union, and elsewhere to target specific bacteria, they cured cholera, dysentery, bubonic plague, and other deadly infectious diseases.

But after Stalin's brutal purges and the rise of antibiotics, phage therapy declined and nearly was lost to history--until today. In The Living Medicine, acclaimed science journalist Lina Zeldovich reveals the remarkable history of phages, told through the lives of the French, Soviet, and American scientists who discovered, developed, and are reviving this unique cure for seemingly-intractable diseases. Ranging from Paris to Soviet Georgia to Egypt, India, Kenya, Siberia, and America, The Living Medicine shows how phages once saved tens of thousands of lives. Today, with our antibiotic shield collapsing, Zeldovich demonstrates how phages are making our food safe and, in cases of dire emergency, rescuing people from the brink of death. They may be humanity's best defense against the pandemics to come.

Filled with adventure, human ambition, tragedy, technology, irrepressible scientists and the excitement of their innovation, The Living Medicine offers a vision of how our future may be saved by knowledge from the past.

Zeldovich, Lina: - Lina Zeldovich is a writer and editor specializing in the journalism of solutions. Her work has appeared in the New York Times, Reader's Digest, Smithsonian, Popular Science, Scientific American, Atlantic, and Newsweek, among many other popular outlets, and she has won awards from the Newswomen's Club of New York, the Society of Professional Journalists Deadline Club, and the American Society of Journalists and Authors. An immigrant from the former Soviet Union, she lives in New York City and keeps a compost pile in her backyard.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9781250283382
ISBN 10	1250283388
Title	The Living Medicine
Author	Lina Zeldovich
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Hardback
Publisher	St Martin's Press
Year published	2024-10-22
Number of pages	320
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.