Ebook: Cure Unknown: Inside the Lyme Epidemic
Author: Pamela Weintraub
- Year: 2013
- Publisher: St. Martin's Press
- Language: English
- epub
Cure Unknown (Revised Edition): Inside the Lyme Epidemic
Pamela Weintraub
Pamela Weintraub paints a nuanced picture of the intense controversy and crippling uncertainty surrounding Lyme disease and sheds light on one of the angriest medical disputes raging today. She also reveals her personal odyssey through the land of Lyme after she, her husband and their two sons became seriously ill with the disease beginning in the 1990s.
From the microbe causing the infection and the definition of the disease, to the length and type of treatment and the kind of practitioner needed, Lyme is a hotbed of contention. With a CDC-estimated 200,000-plus new cases of Lyme disease a year, it has surpassed both AIDS and TB as the fastest-spreading infectious disease in the U.S. Yet alarmingly, in many cases, because the disease often eludes blood tests and not all patients exhibit the classic "bulls-eye" rash and swollen joints, doctors are woefully unable or unwilling to diagnose Lyme. When that happens, once-treatable infections become chronic, inexorably disseminating to cause disabling conditions that may never be cured.
Weintraub reveals why the Lyme epidemic has been allowed to explode, why patients are dismissed, and what can be done to raise awareness in the medical community and find a cure. The most comprehensive book ever written about the past, present and future of Lyme disease, this exposes the ticking clock of a raging epidemic.
432 pages
Review
“Millions suffering from symptoms of a mysterious disease need suffer confusion and loss no longer. If you want to know the real story behind Lyme disease and how to find your way back to health, read this book.” ―Mark Hyman, MD, New York Times bestselling author of The Blood Sugar Solution
“In the war of information on Lyme disease, patient activist groups have started from a marked disadvantage to the medical establishment in terms of visibility and credibility. That may be changing, and... Cure Unknown could be one reason.” ―Washington Post
“In Cure, Unknown, Pamela Weintraub has produced both the definitive book about Lyme disease and associated disorders and a survivor's account of a grueling medical odyssey. Weintraub is a masterful science writer and storyteller, and she tackles the quarrels and quagmires surrounding this baffling illness with intelligence and pathos.” ―Kaja Perina, editor in chief of Psychology Today
“A thoroughly researched and well-written account of the disease's controversial history.” ―Jane Brody, New York Times
“I sometimes wonder if the only investigative writers who will possess the necessary temerity to remove the white gloves and tackle these putative experts to the ground will be those, like Weintraub...whose personal experience demands that they follow the rocky trail that leads to the truth.” ―Hillary Johnson, author of Osler's Web: Inside the Labyrinth of the Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Epidemic
“Pam Weintraub, veteran science writer, weaves personal narrative with hard-hitting investigative journalism to bring the underground epidemic of Lyme and other tick-borne diseases up from under the radar.” ―Rebecca Wells, author of Ya-Yas in Bloom and Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood
“Pam Weintraub, veteran science writer, weaves personal narrative with hard-hitting investigative journalism to bring the underground epidemic of Lyme and other tick-borne diseases up from under the radar.” ―Rebecca Wells, author of Ya-Yas in Bloom and Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood
“Pamela Weintraub's book is compelling, clear and troubling.” ―Patti Adcroft, editorial director of Discover magazine
“Science journalism at its best.” ―Ami Katz, M.D.
About the Author
PAMELA WEINTRAUB is the executive editor of Discover magazine. She has covered science and biomedicine for national media for more than twenty-five years. She lives in Brooklyn, NY.