Infectious Diseases

Bird flu basics -- The history of bird flu -- Spanish flu versus swine flu -- A bird's eye view -- Tamiflu and the bird flu vaccine -- Our culture of fear -- SARS -- The other flu -- Do we know a pandemic when we see one? AIDS versus bird flu -- Perspectives.

Explains avian flu symptoms, effects, treatment, and the history of influenza.

[ch. 1.] Storm gathering -- 1. 1918 -- 2. Master of metamorphosis -- 3. H5N1 -- 4. Playing chicken -- 5. Worse than 1918? -- 6. When, not if -- [ch. 2.] When animal viruses attack -- 7. The third age -- 8. Man made -- 9. Livestock revolution -- 10. Tracing the flight path -- 11. One flu over the chicken's nest -- 12. Coming home to roost -- 13. Guarding the henhouse -- [ch. 3.] Pandemic preparedness -- 14. Cooping up bird flu -- 15. Race against time -- 16. Tamiflu -- [ch. 4.] Surviving the pandemic -- 17. Don't wing it -- 18. Our health in our hands -- 19. Be prepared -- [ch. 5.] Preventing future pandemics -- 20. Tinderbox -- 21. Reining in the pale horse.

At medical school -- At the doctor's office -- At home with the plague -- At the church and churchyard -- At the bishop's palace and the monastery -- At the pest house -- At city hall -- On the streets and roads of Europe -- At the bookseller's and the theater -- In the village and on the manor -- In the medieval Muslim world -- The plague's last stand in Europe

Investigate the rise of spillover viruses like Zika, Ebola and Nipah that can make the leap from animals to humans. Find out how human behaviors spread diseases and what science can do to anticipate and prevent epidemics around the world.

As the Ebola epidemic threatens to spiral out of control, NOVA reports from the hot zone, where courageous medical teams struggle to cope with a flood of victims, to labs where scientists are racing to test vaccines and find a cure. Surviving Ebola includes chilling firsthand interviews of what it's like to catch and survive this terrible affliction.

A narrative of the unfolding of the Ebola virus disease outbreak from a scientific viewpoint.

The 2013-2014 Ebola epidemic was the deadliest ever--but the outbreaks continue. Now comes a gripping account of the doctors and scientists fighting to protect us, an urgent wake-up call about the future of emerging viruses.

In 2008 it was believed that HIV/AIDS was without doubt the worst epidemic to hit humankind since the Black Death. The first case was identified in 1981; by 2004 it was estimated that about 40 million people were living with the disease, and about 20 million had died. Yet the outlook today is a little brighter. Although HIV/ AIDS continues to be a pressing public health issue the epidemic has stabilised globally, and it has become evident it is not, nor will it be, a global issue.

Provides basic consumer health information about transmission, testing, stages, and treatment of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), with facts about prevention, related complications, and tips for living with HIV/AIDS. Includes index, glossary of related terms and directory of resources.

Introduction : why is this book needed? -- The history of HIV and AIDS -- HIV prevention and testing -- HIV 101 : the basics -- The test is positive? now what? -- Your first visit to the doctor -- Monitoring your health -- Know your hiv medications -- Opportunistic infections -- Associated conditions -- Treating the whole person -- Substance use and abuse -- Dental care -- Exercise and nutrition -- Living with HIV

1: Understanding Malaria -- 1: Overview of malaria / Carol A Turkington and Rebecca J Frey -- 2: Malaria in one of the oldest and deadliest known diseases / Michael Finkel -- 3: Pregnant women are the adult group most vulnerable to malaria / Women deliver -- 4: Malaria vaccine shows promise / Jean Stephanne -- 2: Controversies Surrounding Malaria Prevention And Treatment -- 1: African countries must have access to DDT to eradicate malaria / Sam Zaramba -- 2: DDT was never successful in eradicating malaria / Sonia Smith -- 3: DDT use must be combined with other measures to control malaria / Josie Glausiusz -- 4: Bed nets should be distributed to the poor free of charge / Awash Teklehaimanot, Jeffrey D Sachs, and Chris Curtis -- 5: Bed nets and anti malaria medications should be distributed to the poor at a subsided cost / UNICEF -- 6: Malaria is one of many diseases that will re surge with climate change / World Health organization -- 7: Global climate change will not influence the incidence of malaria / Paul Reiter -- 8: Effects of global warming on diseases such as malaria are still unclear / Maria Said -- 3: Personal Side Of Malaria -- 1: Lack of money is the most common issue prohibiting parents from treating their children / Mark Dlugash -- 2: Philanthropist explains that eradicating malaria will take investment and innovation / Bill Gates, interviewed by Kristi Heim -- 3: Mothers take extreme measures to save their children from malaria / Amy Ellis -- 4: Western scientists witness the scourge of malaria in African countries / Rebekah Kent -- 5: One man's belief in modern medicine to treat malaria sets an example for his village / Voices for a malaria-free future

The story of the polio terror and of the intense effort to find a cure, from the March of Dimes to the discovery of the Salk and Sabin vaccines--and beyond.

The first full biography of Jonas Salk offers a complete picture of the enigmatic figure, from his early years working on an influenza vaccine--for which he never fully got credit--to his seminal creation of the Polio vaccine, up through his later work to find a cure for AIDS.

Flu's fury; warning from history -- SARS track; situation updates around the world -- WHO-SARS' main fighter; chronology of WHO's involvement -- Policies and measures; containing the virus -- Keeping SARS at bay; a comprehensive list of preventive measures for individuals and organizations -- Impact of the outbreak; economic and social repercussions -- Never too old a remedy; an exclusive interview with Professor Leung Ping Chung -- Starring in SARS; super infectors -- From the ground; real life accounts -- Frequently asked questions

Chronicles how America's Progressive Era war on smallpox sparked one of the twentieth century's leading civil liberties battles, describing the views and tactics of anti-vaccine advocates who feared an increasingly large government.

Brings to life an amazing cast of characters in a year that changed the course of medical history, American journalism, and colonial revolution, including Cotton Mather, the great Puritan preacher, son of the president of Harvard College; Zabdiel Boylston, a doctor whose name is on one of Boston's grand avenues; James and his younger brother Benjamin Franklin; and Elisha Cooke and his protege; Samuel Adams. During the worst smallpox epidemic in Boston history Mather convinced Doctor Boylston to try a procedure that he believed would prevent death--by making an incision in the arm of a healthy person and implanting it with smallpox. "Inoculation" led to vaccination, one of the most profound medical discoveries in history. Public outrage forced Boylston into hiding, and Mather's house was firebombed.

Tells the dramatic story of two parents who dared to fight back against smallpox. After barely surviving the agony of smallpox themselves, they flouted eighteenth-century medicine by borrowing folk knowledge from African slaves and Eastern women in frantic bids to protect their children. From their heroic struggles stems the modern science of immunology as well as the vaccinations that remain our only hope should the disease ever be unleashed again.

Between August 1918 and March 1919 the Spanish influenza spread worldwide, claiming at least 30 million lives, more people than perished in the fighting of the First World War. It proved fatal to at least a half-million Americans.

Engrossing account of the search for a cure is complemented by a description of its complex natural history and by portraits of individual sufferers, including writers, artists, and musicians, whose lives and work were shaped (and often tragically curtailed) by the disease. But, tuberculosis is not just a disease of the past. In many parts of the world it is still a bigger killer than AIDS, while in America and Europe drug-resistant strains threaten its resurgence.

Recounts the early evidence of the disease, the stories of some notable people who suffered from it, the work of those who cared for afflicted patients, and the struggle of researchers to understand it and develop effective treatments for it.

Investigate the rise of spillover viruses like Zika, Ebola and Nipah that can make the leap from animals to humans. Find out how human behaviors spread diseases and what science can do to anticipate and prevent epidemics around the world.

An exploration of Zika's origins, how it's spreading, the race for a cure, and what we can do to protect ourselves now.