Asleep:: The Forgotten Epidemic that Remains One of Medicine's Greatest Mysteries by Molly Caldwell

This most recent book on disease by journalist Molly Caldwell Crosby
involves "Encephalitis Lethargica", the illness that plagues the patients brought to
life in the movie "Awakenings." Like the book by Oliver Sacks on which the movie
was based, this book includes several case studies of actual patients afflicted
with the disease, which the author rightly says is "one of medicine's greatest
mysteries." Unlike the book by neurologist Sacks, this book also dallies with the
history of public health in the modern world, and how doctors and scientists from
various countries dealt with this epidemic, which began a little before the end of
WWI.

Crosby also spends a good amount of time in her book discussing the
major figures in the field of neurology, including S.E. Jelliffe, Frederick Tilney,
and Josephine B. Neal. This is among the most interesting part of the book, as
she goes in depth into their lives, patterns, and what drove each of them to make
a name in this fledgling field of study, which at that time was little different than
psychology. She further discusses the benefactors to the cause of finding a cure
or vaccine for this "sleeping sickness," as it affects (and kills) the wife of
American industrialist J.P. Morgan and afflicts millionaire William Matheson.

While she does put forth several theories about what caused this disease
to sweep the planet and then all but disappear, by the end of the book, Crosby
seems to rush past her topic, as if in a hurry to be finished with it. She does not
spend enough time discussing the possible causal agents, and to my mind just
gives passing mention to the thought that this could have been caused by a
common germ that we all know, streptococcus, and little graphic evidence of
where in the world this disease had the firmest hold, from which a reader might
be able to draw their own conclusion, like that vaccination was at the heart of it
all. Yes, she touches on those theories, but unlike her exhaustive look at Tilney
and his career, Neal's lifestyle, etc., these ideas get a light touch and then the
author moves on to talk about what interested her in the topic initially.

While I understand the difficulties inherent in discussing a disease which
ravaged the globe almost a hundred year's ago, but has made few people sick
during our lifetimes. I know it is made even harder by the fact that no cure or
vaccine was ever uncovered to solve the problem. Still, my feeling on ending the
book was that I had been cheated, and that it was exhaustion and not exhaustion
of topic or resources that called a close to the book. I have read Sacks' book,
and feel that this is a good companion piece to it. I will still read the book Crosby.
has written on Yellow Fever, which some critics have said is better. But I was
always bemoan the fact that she couldn't have given this book another month of
her life to complete the story.

Submitted by Gerti