Describes the 1918 influenza pandemic, from how World War I soldiers spread the disease to recent scientific efforts to understand the virus that took between twenty and forty million lives worldwide.
Describes the history of polio, the way it spreads, its major epidemics, treatments such as the iron lung and the Kenny method, and the impact of Jonas Salk and Albert Sabin's vaccines, and includes a time line, glossary, and annotated bibliography.
Describes the 1347-1351 outbreak of plague in Europe, known as the Black Death, which killed one out of three people and changed the course of European history.
Describes the history of cholera, explains how it spreads, chronicles its major epidemics and pandemics, discusses the work of doctors who made important discoveries about the disease, and includes a time line, glossary, and annotated bibliography.
Describes the history of smallpox in the Americas, covering the arrival of the Spanish as carriers, its spread throughout the New World, the development of the smallpox vaccine, the elimination of the disease, and its potential use as a terrorist weapon.
