Spanning three centuries, The End of Plagues weaves together the discovery of vaccination, the birth and growth of immunology, and the fight to eradicate the world's most feared diseases. World-renown immunologist John Rhodes charts our fight against these plagues, and shows how vaccinations gave humanity the upper hand.
World-renowned immunologist John Rhodes's The End of Plagues is "an engaging and expansive exploration of humankind's quest to defend itself against disease" (History Today).
At the turn of the twentieth century, smallpox claimed the lives of two million people per year. By 1979, the disease had been eradicated and victory was declared across the globe. Yet the story of smallpox remains the exception, as today a host of deadly contagions, from polio to AIDS, continue to threaten human health around the world.
Spanning three centuries, The End of Plagues weaves together the discovery of vaccination, the birth and growth of immunology, and the fight to eradicate the world's most feared diseases. From Edward Jenner's discovery of vaccination in 1796, to the early nineteenth-century foundling voyages in which chains of orphans, vaccinated one by one, were sent to colonies around the globe, to the development of polio vaccines and the stockpiling of smallpox as a biological weapon in the Cold War, Rhodes charts our fight against these plagues, and shows how vaccinations gave humanity the upper hand.
Inhaltsverzeichnis
Chapter 1: Hardly Anyone Escapes
Chapter 2: The Power of the Invisible
Chapter 3: Circassian Beauties and Pioneering Women
Chapter 4: The Making of Jenner
Chapter 5: Why Not Try the Experiment?
Chapter 6: The Fourth Achievement
Chapter 7: The Foundling Voyages
Chapter 8: The Teeming Humanity of Nations
Chapter 9: A Great and Loud Commotion
Chapter 10: Completing the Picture
Chapter 11: Germ Theory and the Birth of Immunology
Chapter 12: Victorious Weapons against Illness and Death
Chapter 13: First Light on the Mystery of Infantile Paralysis
Chapter 14: Yearning to Breathe Free
Chapter 15: A Great Step Forward
Chapter 16: Great Themes and Dirty Little Secrets
Chapter 17: The War on Influenza
Chapter 18: Forged in the Crucible of War
Chapter 19: Smallpox in a Land of Ancient Wisdom
Chapter 20: The Final Defeat of Smallpox
Chapter 21: Invisible Weapons of War
Chapter 22: Benefits, Risks and Fears
Chapter 23: Inspiration in the Global Village
Chapter 24: A Team of Many Colors
Chapter 25: The Milkmaid and the Cuckoo
