Susan Scott

The threat of unstoppable plagues, such as AIDS and Ebola, is always with us. In Europe, the most devastating plagues were those from the Black Death pandemic in the 1300s to the Great Plague of London in 1665. For the last 100 years, it has been accepted that Yersinia pestis, the infective agent of bubonic plague, was responsible for these epidemics. This book combines modern concepts of epidemiology and molecular biology with computer-modelling. Applying these to the analysis of historical epidemics, the authors show that they were not, in fact, outbreaks of bubonic plague. Biology of Plagues offers a completely new interdisciplinary interpretation of the plagues of Europe and establishes them within a geographical, historical and demographic framework. This fascinating detective work will be of interest to readers in the social and biological sciences, and lessons learnt will underline the implications of historical plagues for modern-day epidemiology.

Human Demography and Disease offers an interdisciplinary and integrated perspective on the relationship between historical populations and the dynamics of epidemiological processes. It brings the techniques of time-series analysis and computer matrix modelling to historical demography and geography to extract detailed information concerning the oscillations in births, deaths, migrations and epidemics from parish register and other data series and to build mathematical models of the population cycles. This book presents a new way of studying pre-industrial communities and explores the subtle, and hitherto undetected effects of fluctuating nutritional levels on mortality patterns and the dynamics of infectious diseases. It will be of interest to researchers, teachers and students in the fields of demography, anthropology, historical geography, social history, population biology and epidemiology.

Does urinating on Portuguese man-of-war stings do any good? Will coral grow inside coral cuts? Why do so many marine cuts in Hawaii become infected? All Stings Considered answers these and many other questions about the injuries that can occur while working or playing in Hawaii's ocean waters. Covering far more than stings, this book's topics range from barracuda bites to sunburn; from ciguatera fish poisoning to swimmer's ear. This generously illustrated volume is the only medical guide that specifically addresses Hawaii's unique marine species. This book is for anyone who goes near or into the water ... or cares for those who do. It describes injury prevention and first aid in everyday language with descriptions and pictures for the layperson and more specialized information on each type of injury for the medical professional.