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.

A journey into the gripping world of emerging diseases. In search of a better understanding of these often deadly diseases, Grady heads to Angola, the site of the 2005 Marburg virus epidemic, a disease closely related to Ebola. On the ground, and sometimes frighteningly close to victims of the disease, Denise explores the realities of health care in the developing world, and its potential effects on our own welfare. With supplemental sidebars that explain key scientific and social issues and in-depth chapters on the origins and spread of Marburg, avian flu, HIV, SARS, West Nile virus, hantavirus, and monkeypox, this is a fascinating look at the health dangers we face in a global society.