Liaisons of Life by Tom Wakeford, Wiley, £17.95, ISBN 0471399728
IN Liaisons of Life Tom Wakeford sets out to put right the injustices rained
down upon microbes. For most of us, mention of bacteria, fungi and the
single-celled organisms called protists conjures up bad experiences with airline
food and nasty infections.
Wakeford blames Louis Pasteur for this: it was Pasteur who discovered the
role of microbes in infection and disease, and it was he who renamed bacteria
“germs”. What chance have microbes had of retrieving their good name in face of
such dreadful publicity?
Wakeford pegs the rehabilitation of the…
