[.ca] Plague Time: How Stealth Infections Cause Cancer, Heart ... (ISBN 0684869004)

Plague time:
Excellent book- stirs up controversy on chronic illnesses and thier possible viral et.al. causes. A must read.Dr. Ewald's ideas need a wide readership. I urge others to read his book and research his ideas.

Insightful:
This is a great read. Paul Ewald points out quite convincingly that medical professionals neglect the evolutionary side of disease. His theory is that most diseases including chronic diseases like some cancers and heart disease are caused by infections by micro-organisms. This is not to say that his theory is conclusively demonstrated but rather that it rests on principles that are sensible and possibly correct. Another of the important themes talked about in his book is that the virulancy of an infectious agent will evolve depending on how easily it is transmitted. An organism (bacteria or virus) in the human body is always trying to balance its fitness in reproducing in its host versus its fitness in being able to jump into another host. The outcome is decided by natural selection. Whatever evolutionary path results in the most offstring will win out. An organism which reproduces too quicky and imediately kills its host will not be very capable of being transmitted to another host. Take for example the common cold. If the effects of the common cold were much worse then people would stay home from work and the chance of the germs reaching other hosts would be much less. Ewald in fact advocates that people should stay home from work when they get a cold or the flu. This would probably benefit the employer in the long run because the flu would be less prevalent and less workers would contract it. I won't try to argue his points here but I find them quite convincing. On the other hand there are some down sides to the book. As mentioned in some other reviews the title is a bit overstated. Ewald has a theory and not conclusive evidence that things like cancer and heart disease are caused by infectious agents. Some things like cervical cancer and peptic ulcers have been shown to be caused by infectious agents in just the last few years where as the popular belief in medicine was that these were not infectious diseases. However that is not to say that all cancers and diseases are caused by infectious diseases. Ewalds obviously acknowledges this but nonetheless makes some pretty bold claims. Overall I highly recommend the book to non-specialists like myself who want to learn about infectious diseases and evolutionary biology.

Hard to read but worth the effort:
Plague Time provides important and fascinating information about diseases, how they are acquired, their evolution, and their consequences. Professor Ewald contends that many chronic diseases such as several types of cancer, arteriosclerosis, schizophrenia, several types of arthritis, bipolar disease, fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, or even many symptoms of aging are the result of infections. The explanations of how these infections are acquired, and situations where the infectious agents are likely to be especially virulent are of great practical value. Dr. Ewald's thesis is that infectious agents quickly evolve to maximize their reproductive success. Their virulence and the nature of the acute or chronic symptoms they cause are a function of how they are transmitted. The discussions of microbe evolution deepened my understanding of biology and evolution. There are many examples presented. Many sections were unnecessarily wordy, with clumsy and overly long sentence constructions and much redundancy. This made parts of the book slow and heavy going. His frequent and often lengthy criticisms of the medical establishment are justified in my view, but sometimes got tiresome. In spite of the effort required, Plague Time is well worth reading.

Credibly incredible!:
Dr. Ewald makes some outstanding points and raises questions that should have been raised 50 years ago. The idea that all (or most) cancers are microbes is old news, however. There was a group of doctors during the 1920's that isolated the virus in a microscope and were able to destroy the microbe using a radio frequency. People with cancer were being cured because these doctors were destroying the microbes with their radio frequency machine. These doctors' findings and the invention of their microscope were common knowledge and their success against the cancer microbe was published. But the growing medical establishment prevented its treatment from becoming mainstream and eventually destroyed their work. I recommend reading "The Cancer Cure That Worked: 50 Years of Suppression" by Barry Lynes to learn the story. The world needs more insightful doctors like Paul Ewald. I highly recommend this book to learn about how viruses and other pathogens are causing so many of our health problems!

A very important book:
Ewald sets out to show that medicine has made so little progress over the past 50 years in tackling chronic diseases like heart disease and cancer because it has been looking in the wrong places - at genetic defects and environmental factors. The medical authorities have virtually ignored infectious causes of chronic diseases. The case for infectious causation of ulcers met with hostility and dismissal from the medical profession. The doctors who proved that heliobacter pylori caused ulcers had to struggle for years before their work was recognised. Ewald provides good evidence that many other chronic diseases are likely to have infectious causes. The reviews here seem to divide into two camps: those who believe that Ewald has got hold of a vitally important idea that will transform the way we tackle chronic disease, and those who dismiss the book. I am firmly in the first camp. I found it clear, balanced, and full of fascinating insights.