Pandemics What Everyone Needs to Know

Though the word "pandemic" often conjures up an immediate vision of an appalling, acutely lethal and visually terrifying disease, in actuality, these really aren't the infections that we have to worry about when it comes to rapid, global spread. In Pandemics: What Everyone Needs to Know®, Peter Doherty demystifies the Hollywood version of global infections and considers instead what pandemics really are, what situations encourage their spread, and which pathogens pose the greatest threat today. He also explains the various responses available to combat outbreaks and mitigate their effects, from the use of vaccines and drugs to quarantine.

Peter C. Doherty is Chairman of the Department of Immunology at St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital, and a Laureate Professor of Microbiology and Immunology at the University of Melbourne. He is the author of The Beginner's Guide to Winning the Nobel Prize: Advice for Young Scientists, Their Fate is Our Fate: How Birds Foretell Threats to Our Health and Our World, published in Australia as Sentinel Chickens: What Birds Tell us About Our health and the World; and A Light History of Hot Air.