PATIENT ZERO

Few might regard the field of epidemiology as a first-rate opportunity for sleuthing, but this fascinating effort may change that.

Peters chronicles seven important epidemics that included epidemiological work, from the very infancy of the field through its growing sophistication: the bubonic plague in London, 1665; the cholera epidemic in London, 1854; yellow fever in Cuba as its mosquito source was finally identified in 1900; the typhoid cases in New York City in 1906 that led to the identification of a carrier, “Typhoid Mary”; the influenza pandemic of 1918-19; the initial appearance of Ebola virus in Zaire, 1976; and the first recognition of AIDS in California in 1980. Each of these sections begins with a brief, imaginative narrative, some of which include speculative dialogue. Separate features, either in the form of entire pages in a contrasting color or, less often, set against corked flasks of…something—a contaminated culture, perhaps?—or a black doctor’s bag, are very liberally sprinkled through the book, making the choice of what to read first sometimes unclear. A couple of errors in copy editing and layout compound that issue.

However, the writing style is engaging, the complexity of information is appropriate for a middle to high school audience, and the mysterious nature of unexplained epidemics is perfectly captured, more than compensating for the deficiencies.