Bitten: True Medical Stories of Bites and Stings

Very interesting book for someone like me who teaches nursing and medical students. This came recommended by Goodreads and some other sites, and since I've read Nagami's writings before and enjoyed them, I felt this was a good book to get. As soon as I started reading it, I started thinking of all the people who shouldn't read it because they are too squeamish (including my daughters!) and people like my husband, who should read it, because they are either Scouts or on Search and Rescue teams, or work in the woods all the time. There were many parts I actually read aloud to my husband because they were so interesting, and even though my husband is very well-versed in bites especially from snakes and bugs, he still had not heard some of the information available in this book.I don't think people realize how dangerous even bites from both domestic animals and people can be. Nagami made sure she covered these two areas well in her book, and I highly recommend reading them or discussing them especially for nurses who are going to see them in the ER or pediatrics.Nagami did a lot of research for this book, using some of her own cases, but also getting interesting cases from around the world. For example, she discussed cases of jelly fish stings from various places around the world including Australia...makes you scared to go in the water! She also covered all the new problems we are seeing with mosquito bites in the U.S. such as West Nile Fever, which is getting worse by the year due to global warming and how it impacts animals as well as humans.A few topics were slower than others which is to be expected in a book like this, but on the whole a good read and reference for this topic. But again, if you are squeamish at all or a hypochondriac...don't pick this book up!

I had this book recommended to me by another physician who is an avid reader. I told him I love reading nonfiction and expanding my fund of knowledge. He is a nephrologist and I am an internist.This book is terrific it really has helped me to remember some of the parasitology that I learned in medical school. The stories & the historical references make it even more fascinating.I recommend this for a lay person or any physician who wants to brush up on things they don’t see you too often but certainly want to be prepared for, when they walk in the door .

This book started out very strongly, with chapters on spiders and snakes. I read these sections with horrified amazement. I will echo what another reader said: Do not read the first few chapters in this book in bed. My legs were itching ten minutes in.The book covers a lot of creatures that can bite or sting you - spiders, snakes, dogs, cats, monkeys, jellyfish, snails, ticks, microscopic water-dwelling parasites, alligators, etc. There's a lot of info. The sections on the spiders and snakes were the most interesting to me, perhaps because I didn't know much about the effects of spider and snake venom. The reactions to spiders and snakes are often very acute as well, which made for a more frightening read.As the book progressed into other bites, like crocodile, cat, and dog bites, I felt that it was a little bit more rushed than the earlier sections, and somewhat drier. It still contained interesting information, but it wasn't as interesting or as in-depth as some of the earlier sections. Nonetheless, I think this is a four-star book due to the sheer volume of info. Overall, I recommend.

Critters that crawl around in the dark - or the light, as the case may be - are both horrifying and fascinating. Other reviews have mentioned enough of the topic that I won't repeat that here. The book was another of author Nagami's great inform-the-public books about the things we live with every day. If you like Bitten, then you will like The Woman With a Worm in Her Head, which had some even scarier stories. I love Nagami's books and I love finding out about our world. My only complaint with her books is that within each story, she tends to jump around a bit. She usually starts out with a scare story and then often leaves you hanging while she explains the medicine behind the story, and then finally finishes up with more stories that are similar and a grand finale in telling you the outcome of the original story. While it sounds fine here, it tends to make following the mini-stories a bit difficult. Having said that, both her books are a fascinating subject and well worth the cost of a few nights time to read.

If you are fascinated with medical memoirs, books about exotic diseases (Killer Germs - I recommend it), and other types of true medical stories and "it could happen" fiction (Hot Zone - read it!) this will fit the bill nicely. I found it incredibly fascinating and learned things I never would have even though of. Australia has the world's most lethal spiders and some of the most lethal snakes. Snakes that can kill an adult in 10 minutes from bite to death, without antivenom, rabies - what carries it and how it kills, how dangerous a cat bite can be, jellyfish that can kill, gators and crocodiles and the bacteria that will kill you if the creature doesn't eat you. Even Komodo Dragons and why their bite is so dangerous outside of the fact they can crush bones without effort. Even macaque monkeys, the kind people want for pets and the kind that research workers handle every day can kill with one bite under the right circumstances. This book kept me absolutely riveted. If you like to read medical fact and real-life fiction, you need to read this. It's great!

While I received the book surprisingly under ₹ 500/-, after having been in my wish list for over 2 years, the copy I received via the seller Cocoblu, seems like a pirated copy! Typesetting, cover designs and quality of print seem pretty haywire. And this was a Prime fulfilled order unfortunately.

Quite fascinating how many different types of bacteria and virus are in saliva. One does not consider how a simple knuckle cut from a tooth can turn into a life changing event.