World Epidemics : A Cultural Chronology of Disease from Prehistory to the Era of SARS

This is an encyclopedic work on the impact on humans of epidemic illness and death.

From bone deposits suggesting yaws bacteria from 498,000 BCE, to an outbreak of sudden accute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in 2003, the work covers demographics, symptoms, community health, nursing, study, prevention, treatment and disease control.

Biographical information on notables (e.g., Galen and Benjamin Rush) is provided.

Maps of vector-borne diseases, charts of types of infection, results of scourges, and estimates of people affected by each epidemic accompany the text.

Appendix A lists diseases by both proper and informal names, and dates and places.

Additional appendices present historic writings on disease.