Scrawled Shortcuts through the Research Maze
Encyclopedia of Plague and Pestilence
Bubonic Plague, Typhoid, Cholera, Legionnaires’, Polio, Smallpox: read all about the outbreaks. Use Appendix I to find outbreaks of specific diseases.
REF 614.403 E56e
International Encyclopedia of Public Health
Where do pandemics come from? Outside of TV shows, who studies them? Check out “Emerging Diseases” and “Epidemiology, Historical”---or look up your favorite epidemic diseases and public health efforts against them.
REF RA 423.I58 2008
Emerging Infectious Diseases
Most people know the CDC (Centers for Disease Control) as the first line of defense and information on infectious diseases in the US. This CDC journal is the scholarly equivalent of TV’s Medical Investigation.
http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/EID/index.htm
Epidemic & Pandemic Alert and Response (WHO)
Where do these threat levels come from? The World Health Organization program that administers the Pandemic Threat level posts its news here---as well as information on other diseases it tracks and how the alert system works.
http://www.who.int/csr/en/
Encyclopedia of Disasters
The plague of Constantinople, the Black death of London, and the 1918 influenza are among the great disasters of history covered here. Entries are in date order so you can compare them with concurrent crises.
REF GB 5014.G86
Cambridge Historical Dictionary of Disease
What’s the difference between Typhus and Typhoid? At the risk of succumbing to Medical Student Syndrome, browse these descriptions of diseases and the histories of their incidence and treatment. See epidemics in the index for more.
REF 616.009 C178c
Contagion: Historical Views of Diseases and Epidemics
What happened during the 19th century cholera outbreaks? The 1793 Yellow Fever in Philadelphia? Background and contemporary accounts/debate on nine epidemics. From Harvard University’s Open Collections Program.
http://ocp.hul.harvard.edu/contagion/cholera.html