# Patient Zero: A Curious History of the World's Worst Diseases - Hardcover

by **Lydia Kang** (Author), **Nate Pedersen** (Author)

From the masters of storytelling-meets-science and co-authors of _Quackery_, _Patient Zero_ tells the long and fascinating history of disease outbreaks--how they start, how they spread, the science that lets us understand them, and how we race to destroy them before they destroy us.

Written in the authors' lively and accessible style, chapters include page-turning medical stories about a particular disease or virus--smallpox, Bubonic plague, polio, HIV--that combine "Patient Zero" narratives, or the human stories behind outbreaks, with historical examinations of missteps, milestones, scientific theories, and more.

Learn the tragic stories of Patient Zeros throughout history, such as Mabalo Lokela, who contracted Ebola while on vacation in 1976, and the Lewis Baby on London's Broad Street, the first to catch cholera in an 1854 outbreak that led to a major medical breakthrough. Interspersed are origin stories of a different sort--how a rye fungus in 1951 turned a small village in France into a phantasmagoric scene reminiscent of Burning Man. Plus the uneasy history of human autopsy, how the HIV virus has been with us for at least a century, and more.

### Author Biography

Lydia Kang, MD, is a practicing internal medicine physician and author of young adult fiction and adult fiction. Her YA novels include _Control, Catalyst_, and the upcoming _The November Girl_. Her adult fiction debut is entitled _A Beautiful Poison_. Her nonfiction has been published in _JAMA_, the _Annals of Internal Medicine_, and the _Journal of General Internal Medicine_.

This author is represented by the Hachette Speakers Bureau.  
Nate Pedersen is a librarian, historian, and freelance journalist with over 400 publications in print and online, including in the _Guardian_, the _Believer_, the _San Francisco Chronicle_, and the _Art of Manliness_.

**Number of Pages:** 400

**Dimensions:** 1 x 8.6 x 6 IN

**Publication Date:** November 16, 2021

## Details

- **Price:** 24.95 USD
- **Vendor:** Books by splitShops
- **Type:** Books
- **Tags:** Books by splitShops, Shopify Collective

## Variants

| Variant | Price | Available |
|---------|-------|-----------|
| Default Title | 24.95 USD | In stock |

## Images

- Patient Zero: A Curious History of the World's Worst Diseases - Hardcover
- Patient Zero: A Curious History of the World's Worst Diseases - Hardcover

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