Infectious Diseases: In Context

Editor Slovey and other contributors provide a welcome update to this title on disease, with several new entries (including Zika, tick-borne diseases, and the Obama administration's initiative on combating antibiotic-resistant infections), revisions to existing articles, and a new design. This two-volume set offers a plethora of images, primary sources, and maps indicating where diseases are endemic. It provides not only basic information about diseases and our efforts to control them but also highlights the social and cultural context surrounding the emergence of such illnesses, as well as the development of technologies in the battle against them. Selectors should note there is a focus on facts and exposition; there are no essays or specific sections on controversies. Entries are substantial, if not comprehensive, and readers will feel as though they've gained important new knowledge about, for example, chicken pox or diphtheria. Useful suggestions for further reading are listed, and graphics and figures are cited.