Nearly 300 million people were killed over the course of the twentieth century. In 1918 and 1919, a deadly variant of the influenza virus claimed more than 50 million lives. And today we face new viral threats : mad cow disease, the Hantavirus, Ebola, and, of course, AIDS. The story of viruses and the story of humanity have overlapped since the dawn of history; the first cities formed not only the cradle of civilization, but also breeding grounds for the earliest viral epidemics. In clear and engrossing prose, virologist Michael Oldstone explains the scientific principles of viruses and epidemics while also relating the past and present history of the major viral threats to human health. Now featuring new chapters on viruses like SARS, bird flu, and West Nile, and on the potential return of the devastating influenza virus, this revised and expanded edition of Viruses, plagues, and history, has been fully updated with new findings on particular viruses. The result is a fascinating panorama of humankind's long-standing conflict with unseen viral enemies - from our successes, as with the control of poliomyelitis, measles and yellow fever, to our continuing struggles, as with HIV in many third world nations." -- From page 4 of cover.

Viruses, plagues, and history. A general introduction. Introduction to the principles of virology. Introduction to the principles of immunology -- Success stories. Smallpox. Yellow fever. Measles virus. Poliomyelitis -- Present and future challenges. An overview of newly emerging viral plagues : the hemorrhagic fevers. Lassa fever. Ebola. Hantavirus. Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) : the first pandemic of the twenty-first century. West Nile virus : deaths of crows and humans. Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) : AIDS, the current plague. Mad cow disease and Englishmen : spongiform encephalopathies-Prion disease. Influenza virus, the plague that may return. Conclusions and future predictions.