I. UNDERSTANDING THE ENEMY: INFECTION AND DISEASE.
1. Catching On to Infectious Diseases. What Is an Infectious Disease? Major Outbreaks: Epidemics and Pandemics. Major Public Health Challenges. The Threat of New Diseases. Catching On to the Cycles.
2. A History of Infectious Diseases. Disease and Development Go Hand in Hand. Epidemics: The Downside of Travel. Fighting Infection: The Early Years. Early Theories on Causes of Infection. Germ Theory: The Real Story. The Search for Cures. Other Twentieth-Century Advances. Antibiotic Resistance: A Warning Among the Advances. Outlook for the Future.
3. The Nature of Infectious Organisms. Bacteria: 3.5 Billion Years Old and Still Kicking. Coming in Contact. Fungal Infections. Parasites: Organisms That Cannot Survive on Their Own. Viruses: Tiny but Dangerous. Protozoa: Single-Celled Organisms That Cause Multiple Diseases. Worms, Worms, Worms. Prions: The Smallest Disease-Causers.
4. The Immune Response: How Our Bodies Fight Infections. The Infection Process. Our First Lines of Defense. Innate Immune Response: The Body's Foot Soldiers. Special Forces in Action: The Adaptive Immune Response. Immune System Memory: Long-Lasting Protection from Reinfection.
5. Diagnosis and Treatment: Your Doctor's One-Two Punch Against Infection. Diagnosis: The First Step to Getting Better. Cultures: The Art ofGrowing Diseases. The PCR Revolution. Treating Disease…None Too Kindly. Antibiotics: Natural Weapons Against Bacterial Diseases. Treating Viral Infection. Dealing with Fungi and Parasites. Prevention Is the Best Medicine.
6. Epidemics of the Past. Smallpox: 12,000 Years of Terror. The Black Death: Bubonic Plague. Influenza: A Twentieth-Century Epidemic.
II. RAGING EPIDEMICS.
7. A Modern Pandemic: HIV/AIDS. The Birth of a Disease. From Epidemic to Pandemic. Where Did HIV Come From? First Human HIV Infection. Early Anti-HIV Therapy. You've Got to Have HAART. Diagnosing HIV Infection. HIV Vaccine: The Holy Grail of Containment. Natural Resistance to HIV Infection. Lessons Learned.
8. A Disease Without Boundaries: Tuberculosis. An Ancient Scourge That Still Kills Today. Tuberculosis: Airborne Nightmare. Treating TB. TB Is a Global Peril. Factors Contributing to the Rise of TB.
9. Still Going Strong After All These Years: Malaria. A Brief History of Malaria. A Nasty Parasite. Transmission: Mosquito Marauder and a Deadly Cycle. Fever and Ague: Malaria's Symptoms. Sickle Cell Anemia: Natural Resistance at a Price. Diagnosing Malaria. A Frustrating, Yet Curable, Disease. Malaria's Many Costs. Prevention and Cure. Efforts to Combat Malaria. A Malaria Vaccine?
10. Sleeping with the Enemy: Sexually Transmitted Diseases. Our Current Situation. Reducing the Chance of Infection. Chlamydia: The Most Common STD. Genital Herpes: Lifelong Infection. Genital Warts and HPV. Syphilis: A Sexual Scourge with a Long History. Yet Another Nasty STD: Gonorrhea.
11. An Alphabet Soup of Infections: Viral Hepatitis. Hepatitis A: Thriving in Unsanitary Conditions. Hepatitis E: The Hepatitis A Copycat. Hepatitis B: 300 Million Carriers and Growing. Hepatitis C: The Silent Killer. Hepatitis G: The New Virus on the Block. Hepatitis H, I, and J?
III. HOT VIRUSES AND OTHER KILLER BUGS.
12. Not-So-Fun Fungal Infections. The Fungus Among Us. When a Good Thing Goes Bad. Types of Infection. Fungal Infections of the Skin. Fighting Fungus.
13. Watery Deaths: Cholera and Dysentery. Cholera: Scourge of the Poor. Epidemic Dysentery.
14. Mosquito and Tick-Borne Diseases. Yellow Fever. Dengue. West Nile Encephalitis. Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever. Lyme Disease.
15. Preying on the Young: Childhood Diseases. Why the Young? The Polio Panic. A Pox on the Young: Chickenpox. “Mommy, My Ear Hurts” . Measly Measles. Down in the Dumps with Mumps. The “R” in MMR: Rubella. Deadly Diphtheria. Pertussis, or Whooping Cough. Terrifying Tetanus. The Importance of Childhood Vaccination. The Common Cold. Kiss and Tell: Infectious Mononucleosis.
16. Vacationers' Nightmares: Tropical Diseases. Leishmaniasis: The Sand Fly's Bug. Giardiasis: A One-Celled Wonder. Schistosomiasis: Snail Fever. African Sleeping Sickness. River Blindness.
17. Meals You'll Never Forget: Food-Borne Diseases. E. coli 0157:H7. It's a Mouthful: Camphylobacter. Salmonella (No, It's Not Named After the Fish). Deadly Shigella . Looking for Listeria. Trichinosis: It's Not Kosher. Preventing Food-Borne Illness.
18. Rare and Terrifying: Ebola and Other Dangerous Diseases. Blood Gushing Out of Every Orifice: Hemorrhagic Fevers. Ebola: Africa's Bloody Disease. Marburg: Not Just a German City. Hantavirus: Four Corners, United States. Mad Cow Disease: Crazy Cows . CJD: Mad Cow's Human Counterpart. Rabies. Legionnaire's Disease: A Deadly Convention.
19. Common Diseases with an Infectious Twist: Ulcers and Viral Cancers. Taking the Stress out of Stomach Ulcers . Viral Cancers.
IV. SCOURGES OF OUR OWN CREATION.
20. Bioterrorism: Weaponizing Nature. Bioweapons. Biological Warfare: A Brief History. America's Anthrax Nightmare. Tularemia: Rabbit Fever. Botulism: Not Just Food Poisoning. Keeping the Terror at Bay.
21. Drug-Insensitive Bugs: Antibiotic Resistance. We Won the Battle, but What About the War? Antibiotic Resistance. What Can We Do?
22. Kicking Patients When They're Down: Hospital Infections. The New Breed of Uber-Bacteria. Windows of Opportunity. How Hospital Infections Spread. When a Sick Patient Gets Even Sicker. The Power of Soap and Water. Tackling a Difficult Problem. Identifying Infections.
23. Diagnosing the Future. Improving Public Health Measures. Communication Is Key. The Impact of Genome Sequencing. Drug Development and the Human Genome. Gene Therapy. The Importance of Basic Research.
V. APPENDIXES.
Appendix A. Disease Diction: A Glossary.
Appendix B. References.
Index.
Format: Paperback, 315 pages
