An Epidemic of Absence, Moises VelasquezManoff
An Epidemic of Absence, Moises VelasquezManoff
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An Epidemic of Absence
A New Way of Understanding Allergies and Autoimmune Diseases

Author: Moises Velasquez-Manoff

Narrator: Chris Sorensen

Unabridged: 17 hr 6 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 08/08/2017

Categories: Nonfiction, Medical, Science


Synopsis

An Epidemic of Absence asks what will happen in developing countries, which, as they become more affluent, have already seen an uptick in allergic disease: Will India end up more allergic than Europe? Velasquez-Manoff also details a controversial underground movement that has coalesced around the treatment of immune-mediated disorders with parasites. Against much of his better judgment, he joins these do-it-yourselfers and reports his surprising results.

An Epidemic of Absence considers the critical immune stimuli we inadvertently lost as we modernized, and the modern ills we may be able to correct by restoring them. At stake is nothing less than our health, and that of our loved ones. Researchers, meanwhile, have the good fortune of living through a paradigm shift, one of those occasional moments in the progress of science when a radically new way of thinking emerges, shakes things up, and suggests new avenues of treatment. You'll discover that you're not you at all, but a bustling collection of organisms, an ecosystem whose preservation and integrity require the utmost attention and care.

About Moises Velasquez-Manoff

Moises Velasquez-Manoff covered science and the environment for the Christian Science Monitor, and his work has appeared in the New York Times Magazine, the Chicago Tribune, and Slate, among other publications. He graduated from the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism's Master of Arts program, with a concentration in science writing.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Becky

Wow wow wow, this book is so interesting! Like any other Grand Unified Theory, I will take it with a grain of salt. I do not plan to run out tomorrow and infect myself with hookworms in hopes of curing my MS. (Though I'd totally sign onto a clinical trial, if one pops up in my RSS feed.) But it's a......more

Goodreads review by Marie

Well I'm only a quarter of the way through, but for someone with a background in health sciences, this is really interesting. Moises looks at the tradeoff from chronic endemic infectious disease to chronic autoimmune disease (allergies, asthma etc). Our bodies are hardwired to fight off infections f......more

Goodreads review by James

An extremely well written and organized book. The author has taken a huge amount of material and presented it in a logical and lucid manner. He also is possibly the only popular health writer with intellectual honesty. He doesn't use "composite" characters, and when he doesn't use a persons real name......more