Missing Microbes: How the Overuse of Antibiotics Is Fueling Our Modern Plagues

Missing Microbes: How the Overuse of Antibiotics Is Fueling Our Modern Plagues

“In Missing Microbes , Martin Blaser sounds [an] alarm. He patiently and thoroughly builds a compelling case that the threat of antibiotic overuse goes far beyond resistant infections.”― Nature Renowned microbiologist Dr. Martin J. Blaser invites us into the wilds of the human microbiome, where for hundreds of thousands of years bacterial and human cells have existed in a peaceful symbiosis that is responsible for the equilibrium and health of our bodies. Now this invisible Eden is under assault from our overreliance on medical advances including antibiotics and caesarian sections, threatening the extinction of our irreplaceable microbes and leading to severe health consequences. Taking us into the lab to recount his groundbreaking studies, Blaser not only provides elegant support for his theory, he guides us to what we can do to avoid even more catastrophic health problems in the future. “ Missing Microbes is science writing at its very best―crisply argued and beautifully written, with stunning insights about the human microbiome and workable solutions to an urgent global crisis.”―David M. Oshinsky, author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning Polio: An American Story *Starred Review* You share your body with a vast population of microorganisms. Ten trillion human cells coexist with 100 trillion bacterial cells. The human microbiome—an elaborate ecology of microbes on us and within us—plays a major role in health, especially immunity and metabolism. But this collection of mostly pacifistic and beneficial species of bacteria that coevolved with human beings is increasingly endangered—by excessive use of antibiotics in humans and farm animals, overutilization of antiseptics and sanitizers, and the rising rate of cesarean sections. Blaser, an infectious-disease expert and researcher at NYU, is convinced that the swelling number of people with obesity, asthma, and esophageal reflux is a consequence of disrupting the microbiome. He warns that even short-term use of unnecessary antibiotics in children can have long-term implications. Antibiotics have been available for almost 70 years and have saved countless lives. Surprisingly, however, around 70 percent of antibiotics in use are allotted to livestock to promote growth and fatten them up. Human ­microecology is complex, even paradoxical: the bacteria Helicobacter pylori can make folks ill (ulcers and stomach cancer) and keep them well (protection against GERD, asthma, and esophageal cancer). Blaser’s Missing Microbes is a masterful work of preventive health and superb science writing. --Tony Miksanek “The weight of evidence behind Dr. Blaser's cautions about antibiotics is overwhelming.” ― The New York Times “Unlike some books on medicine and microbes, Dr. Blaser's doesn't stir up fears of exotic diseases or pandemic 'superbugs' resistant to all known drugs. He focuses on a simpler but more profound concern: the damage that modern life inflicts on the vast number of microbes that all of us, even healthy people, carry inside us at all times.” ― The Wall Street Journal “ Missing Microbes presents a surprisingly clear perspective on a complex problem.” ― Philadelphia Inquirer “In Missing Microbes, Martin Blaser sounds [an] alarm. He patiently and thoroughly builds a compelling case that the threat of antibiotic overuse goes far beyond resistant infections.” ― Nature “Readable and challenging, Missing Microbes provides a stimulus with which to probe existing dogma.” ― Science “Blaser presents a sensible plan for reclaiming our microbial balance and avoiding calamity both as a society...and on an individual level.” ― Discover “ Missing Microbes blazes a new trail.” ― The Huffington Post “An engrossing examination of the relatively unheralded yet dominant form of life on Earth.” ― Publishers Weekly (starred review) “Blaser's Missing Microbes is a masterful work of preventative health and superb science writing.” ― Booklist (starred review) “Credit Blaser for displaying the wonders and importance of a vast underworld we are jeopardizing but cannot live without.” ― Kirkus “Missing Microbes adds a new frontier towards understanding vastly underappreciated key contributions of the human microbiome to health and human disease. As a world leader in defining the microbiome, Dr. Blaser explains how disturbing its natural balance is affecting common conditions such as obesity and diabetes, long thought of as primarily nutrition and lifestyle related problems. Blaser's carefully and convincingly written book outlines new dimensions that need to be considered in fighting a number of common diseases and in promoting health and well-being.” ― Richard Deckelbaum, Director, Institute of Human Nutrition, Columbia University “In a world that turns to antibiotics for every infection of the ear, sinuses, or skin, Dr. Blaser makes even the most nervous parent think twice about giving her child these ubiquitous drugs. Dr. Blaser contends that the excessive