...A scientist's race to save her husband from a deadly superbug.
From the blurb: Epidemiologist Steffanie Strathdee and her husband, psychologist Tom Patterson, were vacationing in Egypt when Tom came down with a stomach bug. What at first seemed like a case of food poisoning quickly turned critical, and by the time Tom had been transferred via emergency medevac to the world-class medical center at UC San Diego, where both he and Steffanie worked, blood work revealed why modern medicine was failing: Tom was fighting one of the most dangerous, antibiotic-resistant bacteria in the world.
My thoughts: This memoir reads like a medical thriller! I got so caught up in Strathdee's and her husband's story I didn't want to put this book down. It's scary to think that something as small as a bacteria can be so deadly. Did you know that more than 150,000 people die of a superbug infection in the United States each year? And apparently there are at least a dozen different strains of bacteria that have now evolved into these kinds of antibiotic-resistant superbugs. I learned a lot reading this book. And I found Strathdee's quest to find a treatment for her husband completely compelling. She writes so well; even the way she describes the science of it all is readable and easy to understand. This is a fascinating book. I loved it enough to give it 5 stars.
Happy Reading!
It sounds frightening to me!
ReplyDeleteSuperbugs are pretty terrifying to think about.
DeleteTerrifying! Sounds like a fascinating read, though.
ReplyDeleteIt's both compelling and fascinating! I couldn't put it down.
DeleteWow, I thought this was fiction! Lovely review!
ReplyDeleteNope. It's a very terrifying true story. But with a happy ending. :D
DeleteWow, sounds like a real-life medical thriller. How terrifying!
ReplyDeleteThe fact that this really happened...and could happen again to someone else...is what made this book so scary.
DeleteThat something so tiny can be a mortal threat to us should, in fact, give us all pause. This must have been truly a terrifying experience for this couple. It's good to know that they survived.
ReplyDeleteTom came close to dying many times in this book. It's a miracle he did survive.
DeleteThat's so scary yet I feel it's an informative read. Thanks for your review, Lark!
ReplyDeleteIt's a very eye-opening book. And so well told.
DeleteThis sounds so fascinating. I really enjoy these kinds of books. I don't read them often, but I probably should. Adding this one to my list.
ReplyDeleteI'm very glad I read this one; it's such a compelling story!
DeleteYes, I knew we now have super-bugs loose that are antibiotic resistant and that not many scientists are looking for new drugs as there's not a lot of money in it. Wonderful, eh?
ReplyDeleteIt's very sad that that's the kind of world we live in nowadays.
DeleteWow, 150,000?! I'm in healthcare and didn't know that. Scary. This does sound more like a thriller than non-fiction. I might have to check this one out.
ReplyDeleteIt reads pretty fast and it's so compelling. And I don't think anyone likes to really talk about these superbugs because there isn't a great treatment for any of them, which is probably why we don't know more about them.
DeleteYes, it would scare the masses!
DeleteThis is terrifying!
ReplyDeleteIt really is!
DeleteThis sounds horrifying, and is made even more startling when you realize that it is 100% reality!
ReplyDeleteThe more she wrote about these kinds of bacteria and how hard they are to defeat the scarier this book got!
DeleteSounds great! And those antibiotic- resistant superbugs are scary.
ReplyDeleteThey really are. And they're getting to be so common, too.
DeleteThis sounds like something that I would really like. I studied public health in college so this is incredibly interesting to me.
ReplyDeleteIt's a very well-written memoir. And so compelling! I hope you get a chance to read it.
DeleteI thought it was a thriller when I first read the blurb, wow, this is scary.
ReplyDeleteIt reads like a thriller in parts because so much is at stake.
DeleteHappy Friday friend. Regine
ReplyDeleteThank you! Hope you have a great weekend. :D
DeleteThis does sound fascinating and it's very scary to read that 150,000 people a year in the US die of these super bug infections. It sounds like the author knows how to write her memoir both heartfelt and also an exciting medical mystery.
ReplyDeleteShe did a really good job telling their story!
DeleteThe thought of a superbug scares the crap out of me so much! Esp in these pandemic days.
ReplyDeleteYes! What we do if it suddenly started to spread like covid?
DeleteI can read any type of horror but books like these terrify me!
ReplyDeleteThat's because they're true!
DeleteWow so this is a true story?! How do you fight off a superbug if you can't use antibiotics? I'm sure I'd learn lots from this book, which sounds quite surprising.
ReplyDeleteIt is a true story! And they end up using a cocktail of several kinds of bacteriophage viruses to fight his infection...something I'd never even heard about before.
DeleteOh wow, this sounds fascinating and terrifying, even more so since it's a memoir rather than fiction.
ReplyDeleteJust the fact that there are so many superbugs out there now that don't respond to antibiotics or other treatments scares me!
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