Hugh Pennington is Emeritus Professor of Bacteriology at the University of Aberdeen. He has worked for the UK, Scottish and Welsh governments as an expert on microbiology and food safety, and was a founder member of the World Food Programme Technical Advisory Group.

Introduction

Chapter 1: Why Are We So Worried About Bacteria?

Chapter 2: Victories

Chapter 3: The Advance of the Mutants, and Other Novelties

Chapter 4: How Our Actions Help Bacteria to Win Some Battles

Chapter 5: Politics

Conclusion

References

Today, we are far less likely to die from infection than at any other time in history, but still we worry about epidemics, the menace of antibiotic resistance and modern 'plagues' like Ebola.
In this timely new book, eminent bacteriologist Hugh Pennington explores why these fears remain and why they are unfounded. He reports on outright victories (such as smallpox), battles where the enemy is on its last stand (polio), surprise attacks from vegetarian bats (Ebola, SARS) and demented cows (BSE). Qualified optimism, he argues, is the message for the future but the battles will go on forever.