"Authored by a leading epidemiologist, this engrossing book answers our questions about animal diseases that jump to humans--called zoonoses--including what attracts them to humans, why they have become more common in recent history, and how we can keep them at bay. Almost all pandemics and epidemics have been caused by diseases that come to us from animals, including SARS, Ebola, and--now--Covid-19. Epidemiologist, veterinarian, and ecosystem health...

"The real story of AIDS--how it originated with a virus in a chimpanzee, jumped to one human, and then infected more than 60 million people--is very different from what most of us think we know. Recent research has revealed dark surprises and yielded a radically new scenario of how AIDS began and spread. Excerpted and adapted from the book Spillover, with a new introduction by the author, Quammen's ... investigation tracks the virus from chimp populations...

Provides a history of disease and pestilence as told from the point of view of the bugs and pests that caused them, from common diseases such as influenza, malaria and tuberculosis to such rare diseases as leprosy, cholera, and bubonic plague.