Book Review: Alton's Antibiotics and Infectious Disease: The Layman's Guide to Available Antibacterials in Austere Settings

Dr. Joseph Alton and Nurse Amy Alton continue their stated mission "to put a medically prepared person in every family" with their latest book, Alton's Antibiotics and Infectious Disease:  The Layman's Guide to Available Antibacterials in Austere Settings.  It is clearly not directed to medical professionals or microbiologists, but is written for the average layman with no medical training whatsoever.  In fact, it's written at a level that a competent high school student could understand and utilize.  It's a "primer on the infectious diseases most likely to rear their ugly heads" when our advanced medical care is no longer an option.  Some information is hypothetical, as the Altons extrapolate lessons from history and draw on the experiences of disasters in underdeveloped areas.  They also devote significant attention to diseases that have been mostly eradicated in the US due to improved sanitation and hygiene, clean water, and antibiotics--all advances that will quickly disappear when our society collapses.
You can check out the table of contents and the first 60+ pages on Amazon to get a brief overview of the topics they address.  What I like in here that I haven't seen covered elsewhere, or covered as well, are the following topics:

• distinguishing between viral and bacterial infections--without the benefit of laboratory tests for diagnosis--so that you don't waste antibiotics on viral infections
• how to treat childhood diseases that we currently vaccinate for
• determining whether a person has a true allergy to a medication, or just an adverse side effect--this may be critical if you've got only one or two options to save a life
• exact adult dosages of various antibiotics for specific diseases
• how to make liquid suspensions of antibiotics for young children
• the use of "expired" antibiotics

The Altons do not teach you how to make intravenous antibiotics.  The potential is too great for introducing a worse infection than what you are trying to treat, right into the bloodstream.

What may escape the reader the first time looking at the title and reviews, is the word available.  Lots of times we read about what we should have in a medical kit, supplies we want to have on hand, but because we are not licensed physicians, we can't get these critical items.  What the Altons have done in this book, and really, what they have been doing for years, is determining whether fish and bird antibiotics can be safely used with people.  Of course, the ideal is to use antibiotics that are manufactured for people and that have been prescribed by your personal physician to treat a specific condition.  This book, as stated at the beginning, end, and entirely throughout, is for a time when there is no higher help available now or in the foreseeable future.  They have compared antibiotics that are for people with antibiotics that are sold, without prescription and without restriction, for use with birds and fish.  And they have found that they look the same, have the same batch numbers, and the same dosages as pharmaceuticals for people.  And they use them themselves.

So in their book, the Altons only focus on antibiotics that are manufactured for fish and birds but that are sold in the same dosages as what are prescribed for people.  And yes, physicians may in some cases have other drugs they would prefer to use, but in an austere situation, we may not have what we would like to have and have to make do with something less.  You're not learning everything smarter people in medical school take years to master.  The Altons are just hoping to help us understand the basics of treating some of the more common conditions we'll encounter when advanced medical care is unavailable.  Dr Joe and Nurse Amy cover each available antibiotic, the exact dosages for adults, and the exact conditions each is used for, and duration of treatment, as well as contraindications.

This book is definitely a must have in the medical library.

Links to related posts:
Herbal Antibiotics (book review)   
Herbal Antivirals  (book review)  


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