Get Free Shipping on orders over $79
A Contagious Cause : The American Hunt for Cancer Viruses and the Rise of Molecular Medicine - Robin Wolfe Scheffler

A Contagious Cause

The American Hunt for Cancer Viruses and the Rise of Molecular Medicine

By: Robin Wolfe Scheffler

eText | 15 June 2019

At a Glance

eText


$67.94

or 4 interest-free payments of $16.98 with

 or 

Instant online reading in your Booktopia eTextbook Library *

Why choose an eTextbook?

Instant Access *

Purchase and read your book immediately

Read Aloud

Listen and follow along as Bookshelf reads to you

Study Tools

Built-in study tools like highlights and more

* eTextbooks are not downloadable to your eReader or an app and can be accessed via web browsers only. You must be connected to the internet and have no technical issues with your device or browser that could prevent the eTextbook from operating.

Is cancer a contagious disease? In the late nineteenth century this idea, and attending efforts to identify a cancer "germ," inspired fear and ignited controversy. Yet speculation that cancer might be contagious also contained a kernel of hope that the strategies used against infectious diseases, especially vaccination, might be able to subdue this dread disease. Today, nearly one in six cancers are thought to have an infectious cause, but the path to that understanding was twisting and turbulent.
?
A Contagious Cause is the first book to trace the century-long hunt for a human cancer virus in America, an effort whose scale exceeded that of the Human Genome Project. The government's campaign merged the worlds of molecular biology, public health, and military planning in the name of translating laboratory discoveries into useful medical therapies. However, its expansion into biomedical research sparked fierce conflict. Many biologists dismissed the suggestion that research should be planned and the idea of curing cancer by a vaccine or any other means as unrealistic, if not dangerous. Although the American hunt was ultimately fruitless, this effort nonetheless profoundly shaped our understanding of life at its most fundamental levels. A Contagious Cause links laboratory and legislature as has rarely been done before, creating a new chapter in the histories of science and American politics.

on
Desktop
Tablet
Mobile

More in Microbiology excluding Medical

The Killer Strain : Anthrax and a Government Exposed - Marilyn W. Thompson

eBOOK

The Prenatal Prescription - Peter Nathanielsz

eBOOK

RRP $21.99

$17.99

18%
OFF