BOOKS AND MEDIA

Infectious Disease Results sarily a good value for those with only Of the 40 chapters, 10 were re- infrequent needs to fi nd information Surveillance viewed. Of these, 4 were ranked as quickly or to fi nd up-to-date informa- N.M. M’ikanatha, R. Lynfi eld, C.A. fully comparable, 4 as partially com- tion on several surveillance topics. Van Beneden, H. de Valk, editors parable, and 2 as not comparable. For example, a rating of fully Marc A. Strassburg Blackwell Publishing, Malden, MA, comparable was given for the chap- Author affi liations: Los Angeles County USA, 2007 Department of Public Health, Los Angeles, ISBN-13: 978-1-4051-4266-3 ter “Public Health Surveillance for California, USA; University of California, Pages: 560; Price: US $195.00 Vaccine Adverse Events.” After 6 links were reviewed, 2 were found Los Angeles, California, USA; and TUI Uni- This book devotes chapters to the to provide similar information to that versity, Cypress, California, USA usual infectious disease suspects and of the book chapter. A rating of par- DOI: 10.3201/eid1604.090584 surveillance concepts and systems. I tially comparable was given for “The will not go into details of its contents Netherlands’ Infectious Diseases Sur- References and glowing attributes; the publisher veillance Information System.” Of (www.blackwellpublishing.com/ 20 links reviewed, several contained 1. DeMaria A Jr. Infectious disease surveil- book.asp?ref=9781405142663) and related information, but none were lance. N Engl J Med. 2008;358:1413–4 reviewers (1,2) have done a good 2. Grassly NC. Infectious disease surveil- as complete as the book chapter and lance. JAMA. 2008;300:1591–2. job on this. Instead, I conducted a some provided a more global view. A simple review to try and answer the rating of not comparable was given Address for correspondence: Marc A. Strassburg, following question: compared with a for “Use of Molecular Epidemiology Los Angeles County Web Informatics, Los free Internet search, is purchase of a in Infectious Disease Surveillance” af- Angeles County Department of Public Health, $195.00 book worth it? My hypoth- ter a review of all 20 links. Although 313 N. Figueroa St, Rm 127, Los Angeles, CA esis was that by entering the title of a several links provided information on 90012, USA; email: [email protected]. chapter from the book in a search en- the topic, none provided as organized gov gine, one could fi nd comparable con- and clear a summary as did the book tent within the fi rst 20 results (links) chapter. returned. Discussion Methods Extrapolation of these fi ndings to After selecting the chapter that all 40 chapters is diffi cult because of corresponded with every 50th page variation in topics and titles, and ex- of the book, I visually scanned that trapolation to other research areas may Denialism: How chapter for scope and content. Then I depend on the proportion of informa- Irrational performed a Google search using the tion published without restrictions, Thinking Hinders chapter title and ranked the level of i.e., without requesting registration, congruence between the topics in the passwords, or money. Overall, a con- Scientifi c Progress, book chapter and the topics at the In- siderable amount of Internet informa- Harms the Planet, ternet links as follows: fully compa- tion was obtained for most chapters and Threatens rable, >1 links covered most (≈%75) evaluated, although usually >1 link topics in the chapter; partially compa- had to be reviewed. The convenience Our Lives rable, >1 links covered many (≈50%) of being able to read at one’s own pace Michael Specter of the topics; and not comparable, a book containing the full gamut and all links reviewed (up to 20) covered organized presentation of such subject Penguin Press, New York, NY, <50% of the topics. Each search re- matter must be weighed against the USA, 2009 sult link was reviewed in successive timeliness and cost differential of an ISBN: 1594202303 Pages: 304; Price: US $27.95 order up to 20 results until >1 enabled Internet search. a ranking of fully comparable. Links Vaccines remain one of our most that led to other links would be fol- Conclusions critical public health interventions, lowed only 1 level deep. Links that This book is a good value for yet an increasingly vocal group of required log-in or payment or that public health students and profession- antivaccinationists call vaccines toxic reproduced a complete chapter were als frequently involved in surveillance and attribute numerous conditions, excluded. and surveillance issues. It is not neces- such as autism, to vaccination despite

Emerging Infectious Diseases • www.cdc.gov/eid • Vol. 16, No. 4, April 2010 749 BOOKS AND MEDIA evidence to the contrary. Former Play- tion that parents’ refusal of vaccina- thought and they never will. This new boy model Jenny McCarthy is viewed tion or the philosophy of choosing kind of denialism is less sinister but as a respected source of information, organic-only food is akin to dismissal more pervasive than that.” Further- whereas pediatric infectious diseases of one of humanity’s great atrocities more, the types of denialism Specter researcher Paul Offi t receives death surely will make some readers dis- describes cut across political and re- threats for his scientifi c contributions. miss Specter’s arguments. Likewise, ligious divisions to combine fear and Journalist Michael Specter describes although Specter supports industry, uncertainty in a manner that makes this phenomenon in Denialism: How he is pragmatic and does not put him- them contagious. Indeed, a central te- Irrational Thinking Hinders Scien- self in a cheerleader role, instead ac- net of denialism is that “fear is more tifi c Progress, Harms the Planet, and knowledging corporate culpability in infectious than any virus” and, like Threatens Our Lives. driving and perpetuating denialism: infection, needs to be addressed and, Spector defi nes denialism as “de- “Corporations, wrapping themselves ideally, prevented through healthy nial writ large—when an entire seg- in the mantle of progress but all too skepticism. ment of society, often struggling with often propelled by greed, have done Spector notes that “Denialism the trauma of change, turns away from more than religion or even Luddism must be defeated. There is simply too reality in favor of a more comfortable to infl ame denialists and raise doubts much at stake to accept any other out- lie.” Denialism describes this rejection about the objectivity of science.” come.” Its defeat is a tall order, but an of fact-based reality in 6 different ar- Specter realizes that industry, and imperative one if science is truly to be eas related to health and medicine, be- scientists, have lost the public’s trust, restored to its rightful place. Specter’s ginning with the mistrust of pharma- and this broken relationship needs to book is a good starting place for any ceutical companies and their products. be fi xed through additional communi- scientist or layman interested in delv- He also examines the dismissal of cation to the public by scientists and ing into this phenomenon. racial differences in medical research, science writers, open debates about the organic food movement as a form the future of scientifi c progress and Tara C. Smith of denialism, and the obsession with implications of emerging technolo- Author affi liation: University of Iowa, Iowa vitamins and complementary alterna- gies, and improvements in education. City, Iowa, USA tive medicine despite evidence that Persons picking up this book may DOI: 10.3201/eid1604.091710 these modalities do not work or may be surprised by the lack of discussion even be harmful. He ends with a look about some prominent topics of sci- Reference to the future: creation of life itself and ence denialism, including evolution why we must overcome denialism and and global warming. Likewise, Spec- 1. Specter M. Annals of science: the denial- embrace change to continue advanc- ter does not discuss HIV/AIDS denial, ists. The New Yorker. 2007 Mar 12:32. ing as a society or risk the survival of a topic he has covered previously in our species. The New Yorker (1). Referring to the Address for correspondence: Tara C. Smith, This book is sure to cause some latter, Specter notes that Holocaust and Department of Epidemiology, Center for controversy. In many circles, the term HIV/AIDS denialists are “… inten- Emerging Infectious Diseases, University of denialism is still linked to rejection sively destructive—even homicidal— Iowa, 200 Hawkins Dr, C21F GH, Iowa City, IA of the Holocaust, and any implica- but they don’t represent conventional 52242, USA; email: [email protected]

Errata—Vol. 16, No. 2 Erratum—Vol. 16, No. 3 The article Hendra Virus Outbreak with Novel Clinical Features, The author list for the article Use of Avian Australia (H. Field et al.) contained several errors related to specifi c Bornavirus Isolates to Induce Proventricular Dil- case descriptions and spillover events. The article has been corrected atation Disease in Conures (P. Gray et al.) omit- online (www.cdc.gov/eid/content/16/2/238.htm). ted W. Ian Lipkin. The article has been correct- The author list for the article Epidemiology of Cryptoccocus gattii, ed online (www.cdc.gov/eid/content/16/3/473. British Colombia, Canada, 1999–2007 (E. Galanis et al.) was incom- htm). plete. Authors were Eleni Galanis, Laura MacDougall, Sarah Kidd, Mo- hammad Morshed, and the British Columbia Cryptococcus gattii Work- ing Group. Working Group members involved in this study were Patrick Doyle, John Galbraith, Linda Hoang, Pamela Kibsey, Min-Kuang Lee, Sultana Mithani, Marc Romney, and Diane Roscoe. The article has been corrected online (www.cdc.gov/eid/content/16/2/251.htm).

750 Emerging Infectious Diseases • www.cdc.gov/eid • Vol. 16, No. 4, April 2010