Throughout history infectious diseases have caused widespread epidemics, killing millions at a time. Until doctors began to understand what caused disease there was no stopping them. The detective work it took to bring down these biological villains is fascinating.
Fatal Fever: Tracking Down Typhoid Mary by Gail Jarrow
When the wealthy Warren family contracted Typhoid Fever while vacationing on Long Island, famous epidemiologist George Soper was called in to investigate. Indicators pointed to their cook, Mary Mallon. Mary refused to be tested and eventually was arrested. She was quarantined on Brother Island for the rest of her life.
Terrible Typhoid Mary by Susan Bartoletti
When a wealthy family vacationing on Long Island contracedt Typhoid, a well-respected epidemiologist was hired to solve the mystery. His investigation led him to the cook Mary Mallon. Refusing to cooperate and resisting arrest, Mary was quarantined on Brother Island for the rest of her life.
Invisible Enemies by Jeanette Farrell
A highly readable overview of history’s most deadly diseases. The list includes Smallpox, Leprosy, Bubonic Plague, Tuberculosis, Malaria, Cholera, and AIDS. Full of examples and anecdotes. A must read for students interested in disease and epidemics.
Small Steps: The Year I Got Polio by Peg Kehret
Author, Peg Kehret, contracted polio as a child in the 1930s. While in the hospital, she became paralyzed. Doctors immediately started her on exercise and heat pack therapy. Once free of the virus, she was transferred to a rehabilitation facility where she shared a room with three other polio survivors. This is her memoir of that year.
The Secret of the Yellow Death by Suzanne Jurmaine
In the late 1890s, doctors didn’t know what caused Yellow Fever or how it spread. Army doctor, Walter Reed, got the chance to solve the mystery when the U.S. Army was stationed in Cuba during the Spanish-American war of 1898. Volunteers were injected voluntarily and Reed concluded definitively that Yellow Fever is spread by mosquitos.
More Deadly Than War by Kenneth C. Davis
In 1917 the United States entered World War I. Soldiers who went off to training camps, suddenly became deathly ill with Spanish Flu. Overseas, U.S. soldiers passed the disease to the French allies, who in turn passed it to their enemy, the Germans. In the end, it became a world-wide epidemic, killing 50 million people.
Patient Zero by Marilee Peters
One of the priorities of epidemiologists, is figuring out the first person to get sick, otherwise known as Patient Zero. This book looks at how diseases were spread and stopped. They are Bubonic Plague, Cholera, Typhoid Fever, Yellow Fever, Spanish Flu, Ebola and AIDS.
Ryan White: My Own Story by Ryan White
In the 1980s, teenager Ryan White, a hemophiliac, contracted the AIDS virus through a contaminated blood supply. He was ostracized and threatened by his own community. Fearing their children were at risk for catching AIDS from Ryan, parents and teachers demanded that the school not allow him to attend school.
Red Madness: How a Medical Mystery Changed What We Eat by Gail Jarrow
Before modern transportation made it easy to get food from anywhere in the world and government agencies required food companies to enrich their products, disadvantaged people suffered from deficiency diseases like Scurvy, Ricketts, and Pellagra. After Pellagra hit the U.S. in the early 1900s, scientists were mystified for 20 years by its exact cause.
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