The search for a "patient zero" – popularly understood to be the first person infected in an epidemic – has been key to media coverage of major infectious disease outbreaks for more than three decades. Yet the term itself did not exist before the eme...

Medical confidentiality is an essential cornerstone of effective public health systems, and for centuries societies have struggled to maintain the illusion of absolute privacy. In this age of health databases and increasing connectedness, however, th...

This book is the first to tell the extraordinary yet unheralded history of monoclonal antibodies, or Mabs. Though unfamiliar to most nonscientists, these microscopic protein molecules are everywhere, quietly shaping our lives and healthcare. They hav...

Tuberculosis is one of the world's deadliest infectious diseases, killing nearly two million people every year, now more than at any other time in history. While the developed world has nearly forgotten about TB, it continues to wreak havoc across mu...

Heralded as the catalyst of the sexual revolution and the solution to global overpopulation, the contraceptive pill was one of the twentieth century's most important inventions. It has not only transformed the lives of millions of women but has also...