This book introduces readers to the history and discovery of viruses and bacteria, provides an accessible overview of how several major pandemics have influenced the society and how vaccines and antibiotics were developed. With colorful illustrations, it narrates the fascinating stories behind 17 common infectious diseases. From this book, you will learn about pathogenic characteristics, main symptoms, transmission routes, as well as prevention and control strategies. By highlighting the difficulties in the struggle against infectious diseases, the book pays homage to the efforts, the scientific spirit and the great contributions of scientists. With the pandemic still raging around the globe, it is hoped that this book will broaden people's horizon, arouse their interest and strengthen their confidence.
Contents:
- About Infectious Diseases:
- Invisible Threats
- Trilogy of the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases
- Man's Secret Weapon
- Viruses:
- Influenza: The Terminator of the First World War
- Hepatitis: An Invisible Threat to Life
- Cervical Cancer: When the "Beauty Killer" Meets the Nemesis
- Chickenpox: Campus Troublemakers
- Measles: Highly Contagious Little Red Spots
- Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease: Enteroviruses Causing Mischief
- HIV/AIDS: The Trojan War of the Biological World
- Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS): Bats Are the Culprit
- MERS: New SARS in the Middle East
- COVID-19: The Unbearable Weight of the Crown
- Bacteria:
- Plague: The Black Death that Ravaged Europe
- Cholera: Drinking Water was the Culprit
- TB: The Ancient "White Plague"
- Diphtheria: Scourge of Childhood
- Pertussis: Uncover the Truth Behind a Persistent Cough
- Tetanus: A small Cut Can Be Fatal
- Helicobacter pylori: Celebrity Bacteria in the Halo of the Nobel Prize
- Struggle Against Infectious Diseases:
- Nature's Silent Warning
- An Era When There Will Be No Cures Available?
- Living with Microbes
Readership: Students and anyone interested in science.
About the Author
Wenhong Zhang is a Full Professor of the Huashan Hospital, Fudan University, China. Dr Zhang graduated from Shanghai Medical University in 1996. In 2003, he was appointed to the position of research fellow at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, affiliated to Harvard Medical School. In 2006, he worked as senior visiting scholar in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology, at The University of Illinois, in Chicago. He has been engaged in clinical practice and research of infectious diseases and liver diseases. From 2006, his research work focuses on the pathogenesis, diagnosis and treatment of viral hepatitis, bacterial infections and other infectious diseases. Currently, he is the head of the Clinical Center for Infectious Diseases and Liver Diseases of Huashan Hospital, Fudan University. Prof. Zhang is also the Chair of the Society of Shanghai Infectious Diseases Physicians and the General Secretary of Chinese Association of Infectious Diseases. Since January 2020, Pro. Zhang is the leader of Shanghai COVID-19 medical treatment group.
He has led a number of multi-center registered clinical trials involved in the area of MDR-TB tuberculosis, latent tuberculosis, and chronic viral hepatitis. He developed the new strategy to treat MDR-TB and shortened the treatment duration from 24 months to 12 months. Moreover, he has led a clinical trial to treat tubercular meningitis and increased the survival rate with linezolid. The new strategy to treat tubercular meningitis was accepted by WHO guidelines for tuberculosis. Meanwhile, his team found the characteristics of HBVRNA and its relationship with the pathogenesis of chronic hepatitis B. As the leader of Shanghai COVID-19 medical treatment group, Prof. Zhang successfully guided his team and treated more than 300 patients with COVID-19 from January to March 2020 in Shanghai. He has accumulated a lot of successful experience in treating COVID-19 patients.
As a PI and clinical investigator, he has published 125 peer-reviewed papers in SCI-indexed journals, including Journal of Hepatology, Science, Clinical Infectious Diseases, European Journal of Respiratory Diseases, and Emerging Infectious Diseases. Dr Zhang has served as an associate editor for Emerging Microbes and Infection and Chinese Journal of Infectious Diseases.
About the Translator
Dr Bailiang Ma received his MA from Shanghai Jiaotong University, China and his PhD from Shanghai Normal University, China. He now lives in Shanghai and teaches in Shanghai Ocean University. He has translated more than twenty books, including A History of the Great Influenza Pandemics written by Mark Honigsbaum, as well as a book of 100 Chinese classical poems rendered into English in rhyme. He has won two awards in the renowned Hansu Yin International Translation Contest.
