---
title: "Book Review: Spillover: Animal Infections and the Next Human Pandemic"
description: "Book Review: Spillover: Animal Infections and the Next Human Pandemic"
---

<https://www.viroxanimalhealth.com/resources>

# [Book Review: Spillover: Animal Infections and the Next Human Pandemic](https://www.viroxanimalhealth.com/resources/talkcleantome/2015/03/book-review-spillover-animal-infections.html)

 Written by [Nicole Kenny](https://www.viroxanimalhealth.com/resources/author/nicole-kenny) | Mar 27, 2015 10:00:00 PM

<http://static1.squarespace.com/static/595689fc9de4bbc892200518/t/59568aca5fd63b5f29287753/1498845241971//img.png.com/static/595689fc9de4bbc892200518/t/59568aca5fd63b5f29287753/1498843850297/1000w/> Written by [David  
 Quammen](http://www.davidquammen.com/), "Spillover" is a highly engaging (at least to me) exploration of animal  
 infections and the perils they pose for people.  Diseases such as [influenza](http://talkcleantome.blogspot.ca/2014/02/h1n1-h5n1-h10n8-h7n9-h5n8-what.html), [hendra  
 virus](http://www.cdc.gov/vhf/hendra/) or HIV live in animals such as water fowl, bats or  
 chimpanzees and as long as they do, the bug can cross to humans and have the  
 potential to ignite a new epidemic. In fact, some 60 percent of the infections that plague  
 humankind originated in the bodies of other animals.

The emergence  
 of [zoonotic diseases](http://www.cdc.gov/onehealth/about.html) is not a new phenomenon, but they do seem to be on the rise  
 or at the very least hitting the news with an all too frequent occurrence.  Throughout the book, Quammen explores the  
 reasons behind this and in his last chapter touches on the impact of our  
 exploding human population, the surge in the population of livestock and our  
 ever increasing destruction of natural habitats. As Quammen is careful to  
 emphasise, humans are a part of the natural world.  This is the crux of the problem as we like to  
 think of ourselves as living distinctly separate lives from the wilds around us  
 when we are in fact very much in the thick of things.

Spillover is a detective story with a difference as it  
 includes a large host of murderers, all of which are factual.  The viruses, bacteria and other single-celled  
 organisms which primarily infect animals find a way to make the jump or 'spill  
 over' to humans.  Each chapter follows  
 the quest to track down a new villain detailing the perils of discovery along  
 the way and the impact (good or bad) on the researchers trying to find the  
 answer.  But Quammen is quick to point  
 out that pathogens can’t just rampage unconstrained.  In order to survive they need to find the  
 balance between their disease-causing activities inside their host with their  
 need for that same host to carry them into their next victim through coughing,  
 having sex or contaminating the drinking water.  If the pathogen gets the balance between  
 transmission and virulence wrong they will die out.   As Quammen states, that’s why [Ebola](http://talkcleantome.blogspot.ca/search?q=+ebola) is limited  
 in its pandemic potential....that was at least before 2014!

If you only  
 read Spillover for the chapter on Ebola, it will be worth it for in that  
 chapter is a very real situation of how things can change.  Ebola in the course of a year, went from a  
 pathogen that caused fewer than 3000 deaths since identified in 1976 to over  
 10,000 deaths in 2014.

If you're a  
 germ enthusiast and are looking for a book based on facts that you hope after  
 reading was fiction, then Spillover is definitely the book for you!

*Bugging Off!*

Nicole

[View full post](https://www.viroxanimalhealth.com/resources/talkcleantome/2015/03/book-review-spillover-animal-infections.html)

```json
{
  "@context" : "http://schema.org",
  "@type" : "BlogPosting",
  "author" : {
    "@type" : "Person",
    "name" : "Nicole Kenny"
  },
  "dateModified" : "2019-03-04T15:23:06.634Z",
  "datePublished" : "2015-03-27T22:00:00Z",
  "headline" : "Book Review: Spillover: Animal Infections and the Next Human Pandemic",
  "image" : {
    "@type" : "ImageObject",
    "height" : 60,
    "url" : "/hs/hsstatic/content_shared_assets/static-1.4092/img/default-amp-logo.png",
    "width" : 60
  },
  "mainEntityOfPage" : "https://www.viroxanimalhealth.com/resources/talkcleantome/2015/03/book-review-spillover-animal-infections.html",
  "publisher" : {
    "@type" : "Organization",
    "logo" : {
      "@type" : "ImageObject",
      "height" : 60,
      "url" : "/hs/hsstatic/content_shared_assets/static-1.4092/img/default-amp-logo.png",
      "width" : 60
    },
    "name" : "Virox-Animal-Health-Resources"
  }
}
```