San Antonio College Library

"Diseases have had more influence on us than we realize. They have taken a major role in making us humans and probably determine the way we run our lives. They emerged with us from our ancestral home in Africa, to spread to the rest of the planet. History is full of the great epidemics of plague, smallpox and anthrax, with the present catastrophe of HIV that is changing the demography of the world in a similar way to its predecessors. We survived...

This volume addresses the issue of emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases and the critical importance of detecting, responding to, and controlling them. The 25 contributions by physicians and other health care consultants discuss background information, specific diseases (epidemiology, microbiolgoy, clinical picture, treatment, and prevention) and special considerations such as the role of infections in cancer and other illnesses, bioterrorism,...

The world stands on the edge of a flu pandemic, according to the world's leading experts. The results, they predict, will be catastrophic. Millions of deaths, economies and civil society in chaos, political life undermined or destroyed. A doomsday scenario! Such outbreaks happen two or three times every hundred years. We are due one now--and the avian flu strain H5N1 is the most likely candidate for a future pandemic. The last catastrophic flu pandemic...

Researchers begina slow and cumbersome descent, deep into the Grootboom Cave, hindered by head-to-toe protective suits, but those suits are the only things standing between safety and exposure. Thousands of bats live inside this cave, and not far from the cave's entrance is the city of Johannesburg, South Africa, a heavily populated area. Any number of these bats could potentially be carrying a deadly pathogen. Known as zoonotic, these are diseases...

Plagues in World History provides a comparative world history of catastrophic infectious diseases, including plague, smallpox, tuberculosis, cholera, influenza, and AIDS. Geographically, these diseases have spread across the entire globe; temporally, they stretch from the sixth century to the present. John Aberth considers not only the varied impact that disease has had upon human history but also the many ways in which people have been able to influence...

We travel to Poona, India, where the very latest rubella vaccines are under development, and we find out about the new methods of delivery and production. We filmed in the Dominican Republic in Central America, where congenital rubella syndrome (CRS) is a major cause of disabilities. It's estimated that if rubella were brought under control in the Dominican Republic, it would save the country $65 million. Rubella appears as a mild rash, but when caught...

An estimated 4 million Americans live with chronic hepatitis C, but because the disease can be asymptomatic, most are unaware that they have contracted it. This inflammation of the liver is caused by a virus that is usually spread when infected blood enters the body, often through sharing needles or via unsterile tattoo and piercing equipment. While there is no vaccine or sure cure for hepatitis C, the disease often responds favorably when patients...

Lyme disease is a bacterial infection you get from the bite of an infected tick. The first symptom is usually a rash, which may look like a bull's eye.

In the US alone, an estimated 3.2 million people are living with chronic Hepatitis C infection. Kimberly Bossley saw her mother die of Hepatitis C, a disease she also has. In this program, we also answer whether you can contract Hepatitis C from a mosquito bite, and we outline five reasons to get tested for Hepatitis C.

The video discusses the 1918 flu pandemic, its deadly consequences and the possibility that a similar strain could occur today. A discussion of the 1918 flu pandemic and what the prospects are for another flu pandemic as bad or worse than that one.