Tuesday, July 27, 2004

E Coli Double Feature

Just finished reading Toxin, a novel about a dangerous E. coli infection, by Robin Cook.  I enjoyed it because it involves medical drama.  You might want to read this together with a non-fiction "exposé" about the fast food industry, Fast Food Nation, by Eric Schlosser.  Interesting to read the fictional account of slaughterhouse operations and then compare it to the non-fiction description.  Scary.  Yet, still, I happily eat meat.  Go figure.

Another (related) book I just finished which was really intriguing was The Medical Detectives, by Berton Roueché, kindly given to me by a colleague, after noting my interest in such things.  It's a collection of accounts of investigations, from the 1940s thru the 1980s, of all sorts of mysterious ailments and their resolutions (or not...).  VERY interesting.  My question is:   how have treatments, diagnoses, methodology, technology changed/improved the chances of resolution since then, and how? 

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