San Antonio College Library

A history of the elite medical corps at the forefront of the world's most dangerous epidemics cites their victories over such diseases as polio, cholera, and smallpox.

This edited volume draws historians, anthropologists and archaeologists together to explore the contested worlds of epidemic corpses and their disposal. Why are burials so frequently at the center of disagreement, recrimination and protest during epidemics? Why are the human corpses produced in the course of infectious disease outbreaks seen as dangerous, not just to the living, but also to the continued existence of society and civilization? Examining...

"Disease and commerce are among the most powerful forces that have shaped the modern world. They are also closely intertwined: over many centuries trade has been the single most important factor in the spread of diseases. In this groundbreaking book, Mark Harrison provides the first major international history of contagious illness and of commerce."--Jacket.

Smallpox, yellow fever, malaria, polio ... now largely just unhappy history. Yet from our confrontations with these past plagues come lessons. As we struggle to understand and remedy problems like HIV/AIDS, coronary heart disease, and Ebola infection, Gehlbach shows how encounters with epidemics in the past will aid our present understanding of health and disease.

Despite advances in health care, infectious microbes continue to be a formidable adversary to scientists and doctors. Vaccines and antibiotics, the mainstays of modern medicine, have not been able to conquer infectious microbes because of their amazing ability to adapt, evolve, and spread to new places. Terrorism aside, one of the greatest dangers from infectious disease we face today is from a massive outbreak of drug-resistant microbes. Deadly Outbreaks...

Tuberculosis is a complex and ancient disease that, after many years of virtual disappearance in the developed world, is now making something of a comeback. Helen Bynum tracks the historical development of the disease and considers the challenges it presents to the modern world.

Today, we are far less likely to die from infection than at any other time in history, but still we worry about epidemics, the menace of antibiotic resistance and modern 'plagues' like Ebola. In this timely new book, eminent bacteriologist Hugh Pennington explores why these fears remain and why they are unfounded. He reports on outright victories (such as smallpox), battles where the enemy is on its last stand (polio), surprise attacks from vegetarian...

Like "The Hot Zone" and "The Great Influenza, The Fatal Strain" is a fast-moving account that brings the inevitability of an avian flu epidemic into a fascinating cultural, scientific, and political narrative.