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Humans have lived in close proximity to other animals for thousands of years. Recent scientific studies have even shown that the presence of animals has a positive effect on our physical and mental health. People with pets typically have lower blood pressure, show fewer symptoms of depression, and tend to get more exercise.But there is a darker side to the relationship between animals and humans. Animals are carriers of harmful infectious agents and the source of a myriad of human diseases. In recent years, the emergence of high-profile illnesses such as AIDS, SARS, West Nile virus, and bird flu has drawn much public attention, but as E. Fuller Torrey and Robert H. Yolken reveal, the transfer of deadly microbes from animals to humans is neither a new nor an easily avoided problem.Beginning with the domestication of farm animals nearly 10,000 years ago, Beasts of the Earth traces the ways that human-animal contact has evolved over time. Today, shared living quarters, overlapping ecosystems, and experimental surgical practices where organs or tissues are transplanted from non-humans into humans continue to open new avenues for the transmission of infectious agents. Other changes in human behavior like increased air travel, automated food processing, and threats of bioterrorism are increasing the contagion factor by transporting microbes further distances and to larger populations in virtually no time at all.While the authors urge that a better understanding of past diseases may help us lessen the severity of some illnesses, they also warn that, given our increasingly crowded planet, it is not a question of if but when and how often animal-transmitted diseases will pose serious challenges to human health in the future.
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= Beasts OF THE Earth ALSO BY E. FULLER TORREY Surviving Manic-Depression (2002, senior author) The Invisible Plague: The Rise of Mental Illness from 1750 to the Present (2002, senior author) Out of the Shadows: Confronting America’s Mental Illness Crisis (1997) Schizophrenia and Manic-Depressive Disorder (1994, senior author) Freudian Fraud (1992) Criminalizing the Seriously Mentally Ill (1992, senior author) Frontier Justice: The Rise and Fall of the Loomis Gang (1992) Nowhere To Go: The Tragic Odyssey of the Homeless Mentally Ill (1988) Care of the Seriously Mentally Ill (1986, 1988, 1990, senior author) Surviving Schizophrenia: A Family Manual (1983, 1988, 1995, 2001) The Roots of Treason: Ezra Pound and the Secret of St. Elizabeths (1983) Schizophrenia and Civilization (1980) Why Did You Do That? (1975) The Death of Psychiatry (1974) Witchdoctors and Psychiatrists (1972, 1986) Ethical Issues in Medicine (1968, editor) Beasts Earth = OF THE Animals, Humans, and Disease E. Fuller Torrey, M.D. Robert H. Yolken, M.D. Rutgers University Press New Brunswick, New Jersey, and London Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Torrey, E. Fuller (Edwin Fuller), 1937– Beasts of the earth : animals, humans, and disease / E. Fuller Torrey, Robert H. Yolken. p. ; cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-8135-3571-9 (hardcover : alk. paper) 1. Zoonoses—Popular works. [DNLM: 1. Zoonoses—Popular Works. 2. Disease Outbreaks—Popular Works. 3. Disease Transmission—Popular Works. WC 950 T694b 2005] I. Yolken, Robert H. II. Title. RA639.T676 2005 616.9'59—dc22 2004011751 A British Cataloging-in-Publication record for this book is available from the British Library Copyright © 2005 by E. Fuller Torrey, M.D., and Robert H. Yolken, M.D. All rights reserved No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the publisher. Please contact Rutgers University Press, 100 J