9780062932709
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Bitten audiobook

  • By: Kris Newby
  • Narrator: Coleen Marlo
  • Category: Diseases, Medical
  • Length: 5 hours 1 minutes
  • Publisher: HarperAudio
  • Publish date: May 14, 2019
  • Language: English
  • (722 ratings)
(722 ratings)
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Bitten Audiobook Summary

A riveting thriller reminiscent of The Hot Zone, this true story dives into the mystery surrounding one of the most controversial and misdiagnosed conditions of our time–Lyme disease–and of Willy Burgdorfer, the man who discovered the microbe behind it, revealing his secret role in developing bug-borne biological weapons, and raising terrifying questions about the genesis of the epidemic of tick-borne diseases affecting millions of Americans today.

While on vacation on Martha’s Vineyard, Kris Newby was bitten by an unseen tick. That one bite changed her life forever, pulling her into the abyss of a devastating illness that took ten doctors to diagnose and years to recover: Newby had become one of the 300,000 Americans who are afflicted with Lyme disease each year.

As a science writer, she was driven to understand why this disease is so misunderstood, and its patients so mistreated. This quest led her to Willy Burgdorfer, the Lyme microbe’s discoverer, who revealed that he had developed bug-borne bioweapons during the Cold War, and believed that the Lyme epidemic was started by a military experiment gone wrong.

In a superb, meticulous work of narrative journalism, Bitten takes readers on a journey to investigate these claims, from biological weapons facilities to interviews with biosecurity experts and microbiologists doing cutting-edge research, all the while uncovering darker truths about Willy. It also leads her to uncomfortable questions about why Lyme can be so difficult to both diagnose and treat, and why the government is so reluctant to classify chronic Lyme as a disease.

A gripping, infectious page-turner, Bitten will shed a terrifying new light on an epidemic that is exacting an incalculable toll on us, upending much of what we believe we know about it.

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Bitten Audiobook Narrator

Coleen Marlo is the narrator of Bitten audiobook that was written by Kris Newby

Kris Newby is an award-winning science writer at Stanford University and the senior producer of the Lyme disease documentary, Under Our Skin, which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival and was a 2010 Oscar semifinalist. Previously, Newby was a technology writer for Apple and other Silicon Valley companies. She lives in Palo Alto.

About the Author(s) of Bitten

Kris Newby is the author of Bitten

More From the Same

Bitten Full Details

Narrator Coleen Marlo
Length 5 hours 1 minutes
Author Kris Newby
Category
Publisher HarperAudio
Release date May 14, 2019
ISBN 9780062932709

Subjects

The publisher of the Bitten is HarperAudio. includes the following subjects: The BISAC Subject Code is Diseases, Medical

Additional info

The publisher of the Bitten is HarperAudio. The imprint is HarperAudio. It is supplied by HarperAudio. The ISBN-13 is 9780062932709.

Global Availability

This book is only available in the United States.

Goodreads Reviews

E.P.

May 19, 2019

Amongst the Lyme community, of which I am, very reluctantly, a member, there's always a certain amount of talk about bioweapons. "Plum Island," people will whisper. "Nazi scientists."I always dismissed that as crazy conspiracy talk. But in "Bitten" Kris Newby, a science writer who was herself infected with Lyme disease, and the creator of the documentary "Under Our Skin," digs into the US program that was, it turns out, indeed working on creating tick-borne bioweapons in the 1950s and 1960s.Newby's research is meticulous, and the information she reveals is powerful, especially in the first part of the book, as she lays out what the bioweapons program was doing. Prepare to be horrified by tales of the US dumping boxes of infected ticks over the sugarcane fields of Cuba, and other appalling actions.The line from the bioweapons program to the contemporary Lyme disease outbreak is less straightforward, but still compelling. I won't go into details to avoid dropping any major spoilers, but Newby raises a number of important questions that should be answered.I also can't help but wonder about what other programs were out there testing tick-borne illnesses. I was almost certainly infected myself while a child growing up near Fort Campbell, KY. In her excellent book about the Lyme epidemic "Cure Unknown," Pamela Weintraub describes how there was an outbreak of Lyme disease in the 1980s and 1990s (when I was probably first exposed) between Cape Girardeau, MO and Fort Campbell, KY. At the time, according to Weintraub, the CDC flatly refused to recognize the outbreak as Lyme disease, as it was hundreds of miles away from the known Lyme hotspots. Now a shockingly large number of my childhood friends from that area have developed Lyme or other tick-borne illnesses. Had Lyme disease and Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever already spread to Western KY through natural means by then--or was Fort Campbell being used as another testing ground? Inquiring minds want to know.In any case, "Bitten" is an excellent introduction to the US bioweapons program using tick-borne illnesses, even though it raises as many questions as it answers. We can only hope that there will be more investigations and more information forthcoming.

Valerie

May 15, 2019

I feel like a lab ratThis frightening expose on the history of Lyme disease has been a long time coming. Last summer I spiked a relapsing fever of over 104° for over a month. I tested positive for Bartonella, Anaplasmosis, Toxoplasmosis, Ehrlichia, Mycoplasma Pneumonia and Tick Borne Relapsing Fever . My IgG 2 (The part of the immune system that fights many bacterial infections) was so below normal I couldn't go out in public for months without a face mask. The last tick bite I remember was at least 5 years ago (tick bite 3). Despite aggressive treatment I have been so I'll that I have been disabled for 15 years after tick bite 2. I believe that I first contracted Lyme and company in Coastal New Jersey in 1979. I am an Archaeologist and Attorney by training and I don't imagine symptoms or illnesses . I'm lucky to be stubborn and smart enough to have ignored all the so called medical professionals who intimated that all my problems were in my head. I will continue to fight this cascade of diseases . Thank you so much to Ms. Newby for validating what I have long suspected . My hope is that this will force the government and IDSA to acknowledge that "Lyme" is really a cluster of diseases, and that we still don't have an effective treatment for many people . My thanks again.

Darcia

July 02, 2019

Thank you, Kris Newby, for writing this book. Most of us living with chronic Lyme disease have been betrayed by doctors. All of us have been betrayed by our government. The truth of this disease needs a giant spotlight exposing all the dark secrets, and this book is that spotlight.The story unraveled within these pages is jarring and disturbing, but for those of us living with this disease, it's not surprising. The CDC has persistently and defiantly refused to acknowledge this epidemic, despite the very real data proving its existence. When a government agency is working harder to ignore an epidemic than to understand it, that speaks volumes about its complicity. From an objective standpoint, the history here is fascinating. Newby doesn't address only Lyme disease. She exposes the history of many tickborne illnesses, the drive toward biological warfare, and the accidents, secrecy, and terrible judgment along the way. This book is exceptionally well researched and well written. If I thought my doctors would bother to read it, I'd buy them each a copy.

Megan

May 15, 2019

I devoured this book in a day. The author refers to the Lyme epidemic as an “American Chernobyl” and it rings horrifically true. She uncovers the United States’ insidious role in contracting scientists to weaponize ticks for biological warfare during the Cold War. As a Lyme sufferer, I am shocked. I am outraged. I am furious. This is a major win for the Lyme community and I hope and pray that Ms. Newby’s investigative work will be the catalyst for change that we sick patients so desperately need. Read it now.

Foppe

July 29, 2019

Glad the author was able to piece this story together, and write about it in an accessible way. Useful book, which gives a nice peek into this sick business, plus into the life of yet another human being who ignored the moral questions because he wanted to be a 'scientist', and who never really escaped that mindset, to take responsibility for his actions. This is a huge societal issue. That said, I would've preferred it if the discussion of the perverse incentives had been a bit longer and more detailed. As it is, it's mostly glossed over.Most important take-aways: most tick-born infections come in pairs or threes, and often include ricksettsia strains (at the very least in the US). And (chronic) 'Lyme disease' may be more treatable than has thus far been thought, because up until now, often only one of the infections was being treated, for reasons related to money (and maybe more, but who knows). Furthermore, it's slowly being taken more seriously, and genetic research may one day prove useful in elucidating the 'secret history'.Epilogue is very disappointing, though, either at the publisher's request, or because she herself felt she had to underplay things. For instance, even though she documented a case of the US dumping ticks over Cuban land as part of the US/CIA attempts to invade Cuba and/or overthrow or kill Fidel ('operation mongoose'), she writes:What this book brings to light is that the U.S. military has conducted thousands of experiments exploring the use of ticks and tick-borne diseases as biological weapons, and in some cases, these agents escaped into the environment. The government needs to declassify the details of these open-air bioweapons tests so that we can begin to repair the damage these pathogens are inflicting on humans and animals in the ecosystem."in some cases they escaped"? In some cases, they were deliberately released. Sure, Cuba isn't America, but the people who live there are still humans (or nonhumans) who value their health, and whose health the US had no right to risk.Similarly, even though the entire BW/CW program was highly immoral, she never feels a need to say this, and she describes the stonewalling that she ran into earlier purely as (agency-less) systemic "failures", "unwillingness", and a consequence of a 'funding model', and never one of ill intent, plus a desire to cover up, plus a lack of interest in the well-being of the population by elites and the corporations and researchers who came up with or lobbied for or are willing to work under that funding model, or who make money off treatments, vaccines, and so on. Newby:I believe that history will judge the tick-borne disease outbreak that began in 1968 as one of the worst public health failures of the last century. In the beginning, we were slow to recognize this triple threat. A situation that is now out of control, spreading far and wide, could’ve been contained with an early intervention of tick-control projects and a public education campaign."We" weren't slow, because there is no "we" who care about "ourselves". There were interests who didn't give a fuck, and who kept those whose lives they were toying with in the dark to prevent them from forming opinions, from objecting, and so on. Institutions allowed it to spread, institutions decided to do real-world tests, at the behest of the same antidemocratic bureaucrats that did the things described here: The Face of Imperialism.

Sage

May 11, 2019

This book deserves the Nobel Prize and if it wins it, you heard it here first. Science journalist Kris Newby uncovers horrible hidden truths of our government's secret biological weapons program. She has spent many years conducting research with the Lyme microbe discoverer Willy Burgdorfer, and has read though tens of thousands of his medical research and papers to uncover some very horrible truths about our government's bioweapons testing using parasites and insects. I can't recommend this book enough. I'm still digesting some of what it has uncovered. Read it.

Nancy

February 22, 2023

This book is fascinating and terrifying. I had no expectations of the book and I don’t, as far as I know, suffer from a tick-born disease. The premise of the book, told in much greater detail and with personal anecdotes as well as scientific terms, is that ticks are talented carriers of disease. Thr

msleighm

August 25, 2019

Audiobook. Narration average.This book was on my wishlist. During an appointment with my Lyme Literate rheumatologist on Friday, he raved about the book. He said it gave him nightmares. Since reading it, it's obvious he's read a lot of original medical and other research based on things that are suggested in the book.I bought the audiobook and started reading (listening) the next day. Due to my ten years of researching all aspects of tick disease, nothing really shocked me other than that some of the theories have finally been proven. No nightmares for me.Over the years, several friends have suggested I write my Lyme saga story. I don't need to, the number of high quality books about lyme disease that are out there (and continuing to be published) tell my story very well. Plus I'm just too tired.The science is explained in an easy to follow way. Recommended to everyone.

Kamella

August 03, 2019

This book was fascinating and terrifying. I have been diagnosed twice with Lyme disease, once in 2006 and once just last year in 2018. Both ticks came from the lower Missouri area near West Plains. My first bout with the disease produced the worst arthritic pain imaginable and that hung around for months. I went almost 2 weeks before I went to the Dr, and thought I was about to be diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis. Although my tests came back negative and I did not have a bullseye rash, my Dr wisely decided to treat me as having Lyme Disease, stating that he had seen more cases in the past year than he had in his entire medical career. (He was in his early 60’s) I am extremely grateful he treated me. My second bout of the Lyme came from a tick that bit me in the middle of the night while I was visiting at a summer camp. I woke up and felt itchy on my side and reached back and felt the tick there and pulled it off saying to myself, “You had better not be a Lyme tick.....!!” That was a Sat night. I was bit once. The tick wasn’t on me more than a few hours. I wasn’t even at the camp for 24 hours. By the end of the week I woke up with a slightly itchy feeling on my side and sleepily got up and walked to the bathroom and thought I’d better check it and the thought flashed in my head, “You know you’re going to see a Bullseye rash.” And I did. I got myself up and went to the Dr, she took one look and said Yep, and treated me for Lyme. I fortunately did not have any other complications from this second bite. I consider myself very lucky to have no lasting effects or problems from either of my Lyme tick bites. So many thoughts went through my head as I read this book. If you have questions about Lyme Disease or even of just tick diseases, you need to read this book. And think about the implications presented.

Janelle

April 25, 2020

She has this weird chapter towards the end where she quotes Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce "I will fight no more forever". At least twice in the book she quotes people as warning her "not to die for this (exposing Lyme disease as a possible military accident)".I suspect Kris Newby knows more than she can officially say.

Justin

November 28, 2019

Good insight into the hidden history of Lyme Disease, brings in personal and expert experiences that help bring the story to life.

Chris

September 18, 2019

This book was well-researched, makes a very logical argument, and I am of the opinion that it is very true. I absolutely believe that our government, as well as other governments, included biological weapon development as part of the Cold War arms race. I believe that researchers were sloppy at times, and I believe that infected tick samples were accidentally released into the US population. I believe that the lead US researcher sold samples of this to Russia, and I believe that the government undoubtedly tried to cover this up. This is a very compelling read

Shiny5711

November 09, 2020

Terrifying.

Sonia

January 09, 2023

** spoiler alert ** 3.5 rounded up. The writing itself is a bit stilted but I learned a lot about biological warfare testing in general. I also learned more than I ever want to know about ticks and the nasty diseases they carry. A lot of this book is a biography of Willy Burgdorfer who was instrumental in discovering Lyme disease but apparently he may not have disclosed everything. There are no clear answers to whether the ticks were carrying a genetically engineered myriad of diseases, but there is clearly history and evidence of biological warfare tests that involve ticks potentially debilitating communities with undetectable illnesses. How scary to think this type of work goes on. And we're fools to think that just because it's not public, no one's working on this stuff.

Hilary "Fox"

July 30, 2019

For a long time there has been speculation that Lyme Disease isn't exactly what the general population believes it to be. This theory is that Lyme is in part the product of Cold War era bioweapons research, either accidentally or purposefully released to see what the new brew of infections lurking within varying species of ticks might do to the population. If this is the case, the implications it has for future entomological warfare is massive, the human rights violations terrifying, and the government's manner of handling the fallout from it atrocious. Sadly, this book presents a fairly compelling argument that there is a lot the public has yet to be told.The book is fast-paced and well-researched. From what I can gather there is a fair bit of information contained here that had yet to be published anywhere else, not the least of which is information coming directly from Burgforder, the man who identified the spirochete responsible for Lyme Disease. The author connects the dots, and where gaps remain speculates - and makes certain the reader knows she is speculating. What is left in the end is an incomplete puzzle, and a call to action. Will a whistleblower come forward? One can hope. If not, can we at least begin taking tick-borne illnesses as seriously as they should be taken?While perhaps not quite as overtly dramatic as The Hot Zone, to which it has gotten much comparison, it is more startling because it is what we are dealing with here and now. There are diseases poorly understood infecting and killing people daily, and nothing in place to adequately combat the threat. I'm glad to see the book gaining popularity, and receiving at least some response from the government itself. What does the future hold?Hopefully, less infected ticks...

Lucy

June 25, 2019

I would have given this book a five had I not felt the author had access to more information on the "weaponization" of Borrelia (the organism that causes Lyme) than she was revealing. Instead, she focused a lot on Rickettsial diseases that can be co-infections with Borrelia. She had nothing to say about Bartonella and little to say about Babesia, other than the fact that separate cases of it appeared in Nantucket at the same time as the first Lyme outbreak, which also occurred there, leading to suspicions of military experimentation gone awry. Both of these organisms are common co-infections with Borrelia, leading the reader to wonder if they were force-fed to ticks as Burgdorfer described doing with other infectious agents. Still, it's an informative and shocking book that should put an end to a lot of the denial about Lyme being the devastating epidemic that it's become.

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