Profiles fifty deadly viral and bacterial diseases, including influenza, measles, gonorrhea, and salmonella; providing information on their origins, symptoms and effects, region of operation, historic outbreaks, and developments in treatment.

Introduction --part 1. Around and about : community diseases -- Influenza -- H5N1 bird flue -- MRSA -- Chicken pox -- Anthrax -- Bacterial meningitis -- Leprosy -- Smallpox -- Ebola -- Group A streptococci -- Clostridium difficile -- Heliocobacter pylori -- Hepatitis C -- Rotavirus -- SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) -- part 2. Airborne diseases -- Whooping cough -- Common cold -- English sweating sickness -- Measles -- Tuberculosis (TB) -- Legionnaires' disease -- part 3. Sexually transmitted diseases -- Chlamydia -- HIV/AIDS -- Herpes -- Syphilis -- Gonorrhea -- part 4. Food- and water-borne diseases -- Salmonella -- Cholera -- Polio -- Transmissible spongiform encephalopathies -- Hepatitis A -- Botulism -- E. coli 0157:H7 -- Giardia -- Listeria -- Norwalk virus -- part 5. Animal-borne diseases -- Plague -- Yellow fever -- Typhus -- Leishmaniasis -- Leptosporosis -- Lyme disease -- Dengue fever -- Malaria -- Rabies -- Rift Valley fever -- West Nile virus -- Nipah virus -- Rocky Mountain spotted fever -- Lassa fever -- Sources -- Glossary -- Index.