Highly contagious, influenza changed the course of history, killing more people during World War I than all of the battles fought combined. It still affects millions of people every year-and we still don't have a cure. Find out why a flu shot is just the first step in fighting this deadly disease.

Each year, between 1,000 and 2,000 cases of the bubonic plague are reported around the world-a modern strain of the "black death" that killed millions during the Middle Ages. Learn about what the plague is, where it came from, and what it might mean for humanity today.

For many decades, scientists could do little to treat polio, they knew its symptoms but had no idea how it was transmitted, or what caused the illness. Discover how it took hundreds of years, thousands of dollars to ultimately find a way to combat this deadly disease.

In a world riddled with diseases, there is only one that has been eliminated from humanity: smallpox. Learn about the compelling history of this disease, why it still exists in laboratories and research facilities around the world, and how what we learn about it now may affect humanity's future.

There have been spectacular gains made in the battle against HIV and the disease it causes, AIDS, but it remains one of the world's biggest killers. Follow the path of this virus from its origins in Africa, to its emergence as the cause of a frightening epidemic, to its status as a treatable but incurable condition. There are timelines on the important dates in the history of HIV and on celebrity deaths. Among the sidebars are one on a young man whose...

The Ebola virus is highly contagious, spreading through direct contact with blood and bodily fluids. This book outlines previous outbreaks of this very deadly disease and describes the massive efforts to contain the worst outbreak ever, which hit West Africa in 2014 and killed thousands. There is a timeline of the important dates on the detection and treatment of this disease. And there are stories of people who contracted this deadly disease and...