A field guide to germs
From the ravages of the Ebola virus in Zaire to outbreaks of pneumonic plague in India and drug-resistant TB in New York City, contagious diseases are fighting back against once-unconquerable modern medicine. Public concern about infectious disease is on the rise as newspapers trumpet the arrivals of new germs and the reemergence of old ones. In this book, the author brings readers face to face with nearly one hundred of the best-known (in terms of prevalence, power, historical importance, or even literary interest) of the myriad pathogens that live in and around the human population. Along with physical descriptions of the organisms and the afflictions they cause, he provides folklore, philosophy, history, and such illustrations as nineteenth century drawings of plague-induced panic, microscopic photographs of HIV and Ebola, and wartime posters warning servicemen against syphilis and gonorrhea. From cholera to chlamydia, TB to HIV, bubonic plague to Lyme disease, rabies to Congo-Crimean encephalitis, anthrax to Zika fever, and back to good old rhinitis (the common cold), this book is both a handy reference work to better understand today's headlines and a fascinating look at the astonishing impact of micro-organisms on social and political history
Print Book, English, ©2002
2nd Anchor books ed View all formats and editions
Anchor Books, New York, ©2002
Popular Work
xiv, 209 pages : illustrations ; 21 cm
9781400030514, 140003051X
50154403
Adenoviruses
Anthrax (Bacillus anthracis)
Arboviruses
Arenaviruses
Bites
Bordetella pertussis (whooping cough)
Borrelia burgdorferi (Lyme disease)
Brucella
Campylobacter
Candida albicans
Chikungunya/o'nyong-nyong viruses
Chinese restaurant syndrome
Chlamydia
Cholera (Vibrio cholerae)
Clostridium
Congo-Crimean/Rift Valley/California/St. Louis viruses
Coronaviruses
Cryptosporidium
Cytomegaloviruses
Dengue
Diphtheria (Corynebacterium diphtheriae)
Dysentery
E. coli
Ehrlichia
Enterococcus
Enteroviruses
Epstein-Barr virus
Fort Bragg (Leptospira)
Giardia lamblia
Hantaviruses
Helicobacter pylori
Hemophilus
Hepatitis
Herpes
HIV (human immunodeficiency virus)
Influenza (flu)
Legionella
Listeria monocytogenes
Mad cow
Marburg/Ebola viruses
Measles
Mumps
Mycobacteria
Neisseria gonorrhoeae (gonorrhea)
Neisseria meningitidis
Papillomaviruses
Parainfluenza viruses/respiratory syncytial virus (RSV)
Plasmodium (malaria)
Pneumococcus
Polio
Q fever
Rabies
Rhinoviruses
Rickettsia
Rocky Mountain spotted fever
Rotavirus/Norwalk
Salmonella
San Joaquin fever (Coccidioides immitis)
Slapped cheek disease (parvovirus B19)
Smallpox
Staphylococcus
Streptococcus
Syphilis (Treponema pallidum)
Tinea
Trichinella
Tuberculosis
Typhoid (Salmonella typhi)
Typhus
Varicella-zoster virus
West Nile virus
Worms
Yellow fever
Yersinia pestis (plague)
Zika fever
Previously published: New York : Henry Holt and Co., 1995