There is not enough vaccine to inoculate us all against bird flu, and even if there eventually were, the disease would likely have already mutated, rendering the vaccine mostly powerless. The latest book by Kitchener, Ontario, veterinarian and epidemiologist Dr. David Waltner-Toews, however, may just be a vaccination against fear and ignorance.

In plain (and occasionally saucy, funny, and contrarian) language, Waltner-Toews explains how humans throughout history have picked up diseases from animals ranging from fleas and ticks to cats, dogs, rats, pigs, mice, chickens, and cattle. As a veterinarian, the author brings a different frame of reference to the discussion than those of the infectious disease experts trotted out on TV. Waltner-Toews connects the dots, for example, between the developed world’s desire for a low-cost, low-fat source of protein that has led to huge worldwide demand for chicken and the fact that more and more people, especially in chicken-producing countries such as China, have close contact with chicken parts, blood, and feces, making the exchange of viruses not just more likely, but pretty much inevitable.

From bubonic plague, Ebola, and SARS to rabies, malaria, and salmonella and many viral stops in between, Waltner-Toews succeeds in giving readers both a scientific grounding and a socio-cultural context for the continued passing of viruses from animals and humans. The author reminds us that we, too, are animals, and thus have no special exemption from disease, modern science and medicine notwithstanding.

Though often funny and occasionally eccentric, Waltner-Toews is no armchair homilist. Sifting through dog poop in Kathmandu to discover the source of canine tapeworm has a way of humbling a person and opening one’s mind to the basic questions that fuel good science and help avoid bad public policy.

In the tradition of Silent Spring, the 1962 Rachel Carson book that acted as an environmental wake-up call, The Chickens Fight Back asks us to examine the societal set-up that makes these diseases possible, including such inequities as overcrowded cities, poverty, slums, and a lack of clean water. This book is a quiet little gem of understanding in a cacophony of panic and fear.