Rising Plague ─ The Global Threat from Deadly Bacteria and Our Dwindling Arsenal to Fight Them

For physicians, scientists, and general readers, Spellberg, an infectious disease specialist at UCLA, Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute, and Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, examines antibiotic-resistant infections and the need for the development of new antibiotics. Using stories of patients he has treated, he explains how drug companies have little interest in developing new antibiotics, how microbes have become resistant to antibiotics, and the solutions to these problems. Along the way, he recounts the history of antibiotics, types of resistant bacteria and infections, and causes of resistance. Annotation c2009 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Brad Spellberg, MD (Los Angeles, CA) is associate professor of medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and is based in the Divisions of General Internal Medicine and Infectious Diseases at the Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute and Harbor-UCLA Medical Center. He was featured on an Emmy award-winning episode of NOVA called "Rise of the Superbugs." He is the author (with Carlos Ayala, MD) of the popular Boards and Wards series of medical review books.