Trillions and trillions of microbial cells live on and inside your body. A small number of these microbes are unhealthy germs. But most belong on your body and perform essential jobs. Microbes help digest your food, protect you from dangerous germs, and help your body fight disease. Using techniques such as DNA sequencing, scientists are uncovering the many secrets of the human microbiome. Scientists are learning how the foods we eat and the medicines we take, such as microbe-killing antibiotics, can affect the bugs in our bodies. They are learning more and more about this system that keeps us healthy and how we can protect it in return.

Epidemics & Plagues takes an in-depth look at epidemics and plagues past and present, finding out about the big killer diseases and what happens when they spread rapidly and affect large numbers of people. It conveys the sad yet gripping histories of the Black Death of 13th-century Europe, the Great Plague of London, the devastating smallpox epidemics of 18th-century America and the flu epidemic that followed the First World War. It peers under the microscope at the agents that cause smallpox, influenza, cholera, tuberculosis, AIDS and malaria, examines the science to find out why they spread so quickly and what might be done to stop them. It also looks at history and legend to get an idea of why people have always been so frightened by the threat of epidemics and plagues.

For as along as people have lived together in communities, infectious disease has been a part of everyday life. The fascinating story of disease-causing microbes, bacteria, and viruses crosses every area of human existence - from medicine, social history, and geography to art and natural history. This unique guide takes you on a compelling journey through time and into the future - from the plagues of the Ancient Egyptians to the laboratories of the twenty-first century. Stunning, three-dimensional models of disease-causing agents and superb electron-microscope images reveal this microscopic and dramatic world in incredible detail. Written by science and medical expert Brian Ward and produced in association with The American Museum of Natural History, Epidemic is one of the few in-depth explorations of this extraordinary subject for the ordinary reader.

The challenge for young readers: follow the scientific quest to finding the world's first vaccines--and move towards a future of saving lives worldwide. Thanks to modern vaccines, many diseases, such as smallpox, cholera, and polio, have been virtually eradicated. Before the discovery of vaccines, however, epidemics killed thousands of people worldwide every year. Killing Germs, Saving Lives traces the path to the creation of the vaccines that revolutionized modern medicine. Young readers learn of the background to this historic quest through fascinating profiles of the men and women whose breakthroughs changed the world. Personal portraits of the scientists involved give aspiring young scientists a look at great figures like Louis Pasteur, Joseph Lister, and Florence Nightingale.