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Lyme Disease: The Ecology of a Complex System
Most human diseases come from nature, from pathogens that live and breed in non-human animals and are "accidentally" transmitted to us. Human illness is only the culmination of a complex series of interactions among species in their natural habitats. To avoid exposure to these pathogens, we must understand which species are involved, what regulates their abundance, and how they interact.
Lyme disease affects the lives of millions of people in the US, Europe, and Asia. It is the most frequently reported vector-borne disease in the United States; About 20,000 cases have been reported each year over the past five years, and tens of thousands more go unrecognized and unreported. Despite the epidemiological importance of understanding variable LD risk, such pursuit has been slow, indirect, and only partially successful, due in part to an overemphasis on identifying the small subset of 'key players' that contribute to Lyme disease risk, as well as a general misunderstanding of effective treatment options.
This controversial book is a comprehensive, synthetic review of research on the ecology of Lyme disease in North America. It describes how humans get sick, why some years and places are so risky and others not. It challenges dogma - for instance, that risk is closely tied to the abundance of deer - and replaces it with a new understanding that embraces the complexity of species and their interactions. It describes why the place where Lyme disease emerged - coastal New England - set researchers on mistaken pathways. It shows how tiny acorns have enormous impacts on our probability of getting sick, why biodiversity is good for our health, why living next to a small woodlot is dangerous, and why Lyme disease is an excellent model system for understanding many other human and animal diseases. Intended for an audience of professional and student ecologists, epidemiologists, and other health scientists, it is written in an informal style accessible also to non-scientists interested in
human health and conservation.
Lyme disease affects the lives of millions of people in the US, Europe, and Asia. It is the most frequently reported vector-borne disease in the United States; About 20,000 cases have been reported each year over the past five years, and tens of thousands more go unrecognized and unreported. Despite the epidemiological importance of understanding variable LD risk, such pursuit has been slow, indirect, and only partially successful, due in part to an overemphasis on identifying the small subset of 'key players' that contribute to Lyme disease risk, as well as a general misunderstanding of effective treatment options.
This controversial book is a comprehensive, synthetic review of research on the ecology of Lyme disease in North America. It describes how humans get sick, why some years and places are so risky and others not. It challenges dogma - for instance, that risk is closely tied to the abundance of deer - and replaces it with a new understanding that embraces the complexity of species and their interactions. It describes why the place where Lyme disease emerged - coastal New England - set researchers on mistaken pathways. It shows how tiny acorns have enormous impacts on our probability of getting sick, why biodiversity is good for our health, why living next to a small woodlot is dangerous, and why Lyme disease is an excellent model system for understanding many other human and animal diseases. Intended for an audience of professional and student ecologists, epidemiologists, and other health scientists, it is written in an informal style accessible also to non-scientists interested in
human health and conservation.
232 pages, Hardcover
First published October 13, 2010
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
February 14, 2011
I really wanted to love this book. Actually, I do love this book. But I wanted to love this book more. The published review I read stated that this book was accessible to non-scientists. I disagree. Perhaps if I had retained more from my high-school biology class I would have felt more comfortable with the author's discussions of epidemiology, vectors and a host of other nomenclature that biologists use in their daily lives. As a non-biologist, yet someone who considers himself a little bit smarter than the average American (OK, I'm not a card-carrying member of Mensa, but I'm also not the dimmest bulb in the marquee) I struggled to truly grasp and understand the very concisely explained and brilliant theories and research the author painstakingly documented.
That said, I decided to read this book after hearing him speak on my local NPR station. The ideas I heard him present, a complete repudiation of almost everything we believe about the spread of and history of Lyme Disease, was both riveting and shocking. How could the scientific community have reached such faulty conclusions that still permeate the general public's view of this devastating disease? The author's in-depth personal research and exhausting documentation of the emergence of this disease is fascinating... if you can wade through the scientific vernacular. I love the fact that he challenged the status quo to reform Lyme disease incubation and transmission beliefs. My thoughts about the black legged tick habitat I often walk through in the Hudson Valley have permanently changed.
What I also loved about this book was the authors explanation of how important the inter-connectivity of forest ecosystems and the interrelationships of forest dwelling creatures are so easily disrupted to the detriment of mankind. The vacillations of songbird populations effecting predator/prey relationships constrained by mast production influencing rodent survival makes you start to wonder if the fluttering of a butterfly's wings in South America can ultimately lead to a tornado in Europe.
For the non-scientist, I cannot recommend this book. The book is very well written but it reads like a peer-reviewed scientific document you might encounter in a professional journal, except this monograph is 188 pages long; 207 pages long with the bibliography. Here is my attempt to succinctly sum-up what the author presents in this book: There's no such thing as a deer tick, it's been misidentified as a new species. We shouldn't vilify deer for the spread and transmission of Lyme disease, we need to worry about white-footed mice populations; and possibly other ground dwelling small mammals such as shrews. But the factors influencing white-footed mice populations such as habitat destruction, fragmented forests with little species variability and the cyclical nature of mice fodder (possibly caused by man made factors that effect temperature and rainfall), are the real culprits in the epidemiology of Lyme disease.
That said, I decided to read this book after hearing him speak on my local NPR station. The ideas I heard him present, a complete repudiation of almost everything we believe about the spread of and history of Lyme Disease, was both riveting and shocking. How could the scientific community have reached such faulty conclusions that still permeate the general public's view of this devastating disease? The author's in-depth personal research and exhausting documentation of the emergence of this disease is fascinating... if you can wade through the scientific vernacular. I love the fact that he challenged the status quo to reform Lyme disease incubation and transmission beliefs. My thoughts about the black legged tick habitat I often walk through in the Hudson Valley have permanently changed.
What I also loved about this book was the authors explanation of how important the inter-connectivity of forest ecosystems and the interrelationships of forest dwelling creatures are so easily disrupted to the detriment of mankind. The vacillations of songbird populations effecting predator/prey relationships constrained by mast production influencing rodent survival makes you start to wonder if the fluttering of a butterfly's wings in South America can ultimately lead to a tornado in Europe.
For the non-scientist, I cannot recommend this book. The book is very well written but it reads like a peer-reviewed scientific document you might encounter in a professional journal, except this monograph is 188 pages long; 207 pages long with the bibliography. Here is my attempt to succinctly sum-up what the author presents in this book: There's no such thing as a deer tick, it's been misidentified as a new species. We shouldn't vilify deer for the spread and transmission of Lyme disease, we need to worry about white-footed mice populations; and possibly other ground dwelling small mammals such as shrews. But the factors influencing white-footed mice populations such as habitat destruction, fragmented forests with little species variability and the cyclical nature of mice fodder (possibly caused by man made factors that effect temperature and rainfall), are the real culprits in the epidemiology of Lyme disease.
December 11, 2020
This book does an excellent job communicating (as the title suggests) how complicated the phenomenon of Lyme disease is. While this might be frustrating for patients who want an easy scapegoat (is it the mice? The deer?), in reality there are many players in this disease system. Some-- like the mice & deer-- play a more obvious role than others (e.g., acorns, climate). Ostfeld presents many surprising findings from his impressive work, but at the end of it, you realize that we've only scratched the surface of understanding Lyme.
July 6, 2022
Educational explanation of why we are struggling to deal with Lyme effectively and how scientists need to refocus their efforts on prevention. Great explanation of where studies have gone wrong and suggestions on how to fix them.
January 17, 2014
Wonderful book written for everyone to read and understand. Only fault is lack of solutions. But soultions will take more than suggestions from one author. A public movement to live with nature is required ( see also Bringing Nature Home by Douglas W. Tallamy)
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews