NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “[A] masterpiece . . . an astonishing book that will leave you questioning your own life and political views.”—USA Today “If any one person can be given credit for transforming the medical establishment’s thinking about health care for the destitute, it is Paul Farmer. . . . [Mountains Beyond Mountains] inspires, discomforts, and provokes.”—The New York Times (Best Books of the Year) In medical school, Paul Farmer found his life’s calling: to cure infectious diseases and to bring the lifesaving tools of modern medicine to those who need them most. Tracy Kidder’s magnificent account shows how one person can make a difference in solving global health problems through a clear-eyed understanding of the interaction of politics, wealth, social systems, and disease. Profound and powerful, Mountains Beyond Mountains takes us from Harvard to Haiti, Peru, Cuba, and Russia as Farmer changes people’s minds through his dedication to the philosophy that “the only real nation is humanity.” WINNER OF THE LETTRE ULYSSES AWARD FOR THE ART OF REPORTAGE This deluxe paperback edition includes a new Epilogue by the author

All who lived in the early 1950s remember the fear of polio and the elation felt when a successful vaccine was found. Now David Oshinsky tells the gripping story of the polio terror and of the intense effort to find a cure, from the March of Dimes to the discovery of the Salk and Sabin vaccines--and beyond.Here is a remarkable portrait of America in the early 1950s, using the widespread panic over polio to shed light on our national obsessions and fears. Drawing on newly available papers of Jonas Salk, Albert Sabin and other key players, Oshinsky paints a suspenseful portrait of the race for the cure, weaving a dramatic tale centered on the furious rivalry between Salk and Sabin. Indeed, the competition was marked by a deep-seated ill will among the researchers that remained with them until their deaths. The author also tells the story of Isabel Morgan, perhaps the most talented of all polio researchers, who might have beaten Salk to the prize if she had not retired to raise a family. As backdrop to this feverish research, Oshinsky offers an insightful look at the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis, which was founded in the 1930s by FDR and Basil O'Connor. The National Foundation revolutionized fundraising and the perception of disease in America, using "poster children" and the famous March of Dimes to raise hundreds of millions of dollars from a vast army of contributors (instead of a few well-heeled benefactors), creating the largest research and rehabilitation network in the history of medicine. The polio experience also revolutionized the way in which the government licensed and tested new drugs before allowing them on the market, and the way in which the legal system dealt with manufacturers' liability for unsafe products. Finally, and perhaps most tellingly, Oshinsky reveals that polio was never the raging epidemic portrayed by the media, but in truth a relatively uncommon disease. But in baby-booming America--increasingly suburban, family-oriented, and hygiene-obsessed--the specter of polio, like the specter of the atomic bomb, soon became a cloud of terror over daily life.Both a gripping scientific suspense story and a provocative social and cultural history, Polio opens a fresh window onto postwar America.

In this book ethnographic, historical and epidemiologic data are brought to bear on the subject of the Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) in Haiti. The forces that have helped to determine rates and pattern of spread of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) are examined, as are social responses to AIDS in rural and urban Haiti, and in parts of North America. History and its calculus of economic and symbolic power also help to explain why residents of a small village in rural Haiti came to understand AIDS in the manner that they did. Drawing on several years of fieldwork, the evolution of a cultural model of AIDS is traced. In a small village in rural Haiti, it was possible to document first the lack of such a model, and then the elaboration over time of a widely shared representation of AIDS. The experience of three villagers who died of complications of AIDS is examined in detail, and the importance of their suffering to the evolution of a cultural model is demonstrated. Epidemiologic and ethnographic studies are prefaced by a geographically broad historical analysis, which suggests the outlines of relations between a powerful center (the United States) and a peripheral client state (Haiti). These relations constitute an important part of a political-economic network termed the "West Atlantic system." The epidemiology of HIV and AIDS in Haiti and elsewhere in the Caribbean is reviewed, and the relation between the degree of involvement in the West Atlantic system and the prevalence of HIV is suggested. It is further suggested that the history of HIV in the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, and the Bahamas is similar to that documented here for Haiti.

Features an inside look at how germ warfare has been waged throughout history and what form its future might take.

Long considered the definitive work in its field, this new edition presents all the principles and practices readers need for a solid grounding in all aspects of clinical microbiology—bacteriology, mycology, parasitology, and virology. Tests are presented according to the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (formerly NCCLS) format. This extensively revised edition includes practical guidelines for cost-effective, clinically relevant evaluation of clinical specimens including extent of workup and abbreviated identification schemes. New chapters cover the increasingly important areas of immunologic and molecular diagnosis. Clinical correlations link microorganisms to specific disease states. Over 600 color plates depict salient identification features of organisms.

Argues that the autism cannot be a genetic disorder, that it is a neuro-immune disorder, and that NeuroSPECT scans show that treatment is possible.

Presents twelve stories of the men who pioneered the study of bacteriology.

Stol's comprehensive exploration of the Babylonians' conception and treatment of epilepsy adds a new chapter to the history of this ancient disease. The author presents the sources, examines the terminology and places epilepsy in context among kindred illnesses. A full edition (transliteration, translation, commentary and cuneiform copy) of the relevant parts of the Diagnostic Handbook is included. According to the Ancients, epileptics are 'struck by the moon'. An examination of the relationship between epilepsy and the moon yields surprising results. This volume deals with material that was unavailable to O. Temkin, author of the classic "The Falling Sickness; A history of epilepsy from the Greeks to the beginning of modern neurology," (1971). It show that traditional views of the Ancient Near East lived on among the Greeks and Romans.

Designated a Doody's Core Title!. Medical Aspects of Disability is a true interdisciplinary textbook, representing collaboration between experts from many professions and specialties. An overview of themes and principles of rehabilitation is provided. Numerous disabling conditions and disorders are covered not only from clinical but also functional, psychological, and vocational perspectives. Special topic chapters address important new trends and processes within the field of rehabilitation and health care at large. The book is designed as a resource for rehabilitation professionals across many disciplines. Each chapter provides concise but significant coverage of topics, and extensive references to facilitate further exploration. The book can be used as a textbook and as a reference tool for the practitioner. With the field's increasing move toward evidence-based practice, a need for information in the areas of accreditation and outcome measurement has arisen. In response, the editors have added an essential special topics chapter detailing the importance of the accreditation process as a fundamental component of the quality assurance and improvement process. This is an excellent resource as both a textbook and reference guide, to inform and assist graduate and undergraduate students (physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy, social work, psychology, nursing, vocational counseling, therapeutic recreation, hospital administration), as well as practitioners, about the most current information on the etiology, and clinical symptoms of a wide variety of medical and disabling conditions.;index

This text covers a variety of subjects in the field of health psychology, such as stress, pain, coping, behavior and chronic disease, and preventing injuries and disease through behavioral modification. Each chapter begins with the basic questions the material will try to address and a case study that applies to these issues, and ends with summarized answers, a glossary, and suggested readings. Brannon and Feist, both of McNeese State University, address a number of controversial subjects, and encourage their readers to view the research critically. Scattered throughout the material are tips about how to check your health risks and how to become healthier, making this book both an academic text as well as a practical guide to health. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR