Topic In-Depth | Radio Programs | CDC Online | Additional Resources Online | Professional Societies | General Resource Books | History | Emerging Diseases | Viruses | Antibiotic Resistance | Bioterrorism | Smallpox | Anthrax | Polio | Malaria | Cholera | Tuberculosis | Influenza

Genome sequencing technologies are teaching us more and more about the relationship between the human genome and the microbes that make us sick. Learn more about the genetics of these relationships and of the bugs themselves from resources listed in this section.

Last updated: November 23, 2004

Topic In-Depth

• The influenza virus has been troubling humans since at least the 5th century B.C. Learn why it's been so tough for us to beat it. Read the article (October 2001).

Radio Programs

• Genetics of Infectious Disease - Planet of the Bugs: The Never-Ending Tale (first distributed in November 2001)
  
  
• Genetic Medicine - Prescription for Conflict (first distributed in November 2001)

CDC Online

• Morbidity & Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR). The CDC, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
  
  For the latest on disease outbreaks and trends you can't beat MMWR, the CDC's Morbidity & Mortality Weekly Report. It includes top new stories, statistics, policy reports and recommendations, as well as a free link to Medline, where you can look up scholarly articles. You can also access factsheets on diseases, links to state health departments, the World Health Organization (WHO) and National Libraries of Medicine) from this site.
  
  
• National Center for Infectious Diseases.  The CDC, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
  
  Information on just about any infectious disease, from A to Z, from the CDC.  Explore hot topics like antimicrobial resistance, SARS, and avian influenza.
  
  
• Public Health Image Library. The CDC, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
  
  PHIL, the CDC's public health image library has thousands of images. Search on a disease, click and see what Vibrio cholerae, the bug that causes cholera, looks like. Or try influenza virus.
  
  
• Emerging Infectious Diseases. The CDC, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
  
  The CDC's peer-reviewed journal tracks and analyzes disease trends.

Additional Resources Online

• The Johns Hopkins University Division of Infectious Diseases website. Johns Hopkins University
  
  Information both for the layperson and the health professional from a respected infectious disease research center. Check out the "top ten" page, get information for traveling, or sample some of the latest research on TB, hepatitis, AIDS and other infectious diseases.
  
  
• AMA Resources on Infectious Disease. American Medical Association
  
  A source for current information on infectious diseases, this site is aimed at physicians and the general public. Topics include: antibiotic resistance, vaccination, flu season updates.
  
  
• Microbe World
  
  This is a really fun site for kids.  Meet microbiologist Sam Sleuth. Help him solve mysteries while "Stalking the Mysterious Microbe."  See the "Microbes in the News" feature.  A project of the American Society for Microbiology.
  
  
• Bugs in the News!
  
  An entertaining grab bag of microbial miscellany, written by Jack Brown. He is in the Department of Molecular Biosciences at the University of Kansas, and author of Don't Touch That Doorknob! How Germs Can Zap You and How You Can Zap Back, Warner Books, 2001.

Professional Societies

• The American Society for Microbiology
  
  The ASM offers great websites for kids, and adults. See: "For the Public."

General Resource Books

• A Field Guide to Germs by Wayne Biddle. Henry Holt and Company, NY, 1995, 2002
  
  Extremely useful and attractive book. Organized by microbe. Learn about the diseases they cause. entries from Adenovirus to Zika Fever with description of the microbe, the symptoms of the disease, the history, the and interesting social and cultural facts. Illustrations include pictures of the germs, and archival pictures of cultural and social context and implications. Index, notes, and selected bibliography.
  
  
• Man Adapting by Rene Dubos. New Haven, Yale University Press, 1965
  
  Classic work on the relationship between humans, microbes, and the environment.

History

• "Infectious History." Science, Volume 288:287-293, April 14, 2000
  
  This engaging article by Joshua Lederberg traces the scientific study of infectious disease from the beginnings of germ theory to current genetic research. Lederberg, a Nobel laureate for his work on genetic mechanisms in bacteria, proposes that we drop the war metaphor in our thinking about disease.
  
  
• Plagues And Peoples by William H. McNeill, Anchor Books, Doubleday, New York, 1977, 1998
  
  Groundbreaking analysis of the historic and social implications of infectious disease. Including the impact of disease on the rise of civilization, the effects of historic human movements across the globe, and the ecological impact of medical science.
  
  
• Silent Travelers: Germs, Genes, and the "Immigrant Menace" by Alan M. Kraut. The Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, 1994
  
  The American tradition of suspicion of the unassimilated, from the cholera outbreak of the 1830s, through the great waves of immigration in the 1890s, to the AIDS epidemic.
  
  
• Quarantine! East European Jewish Immigrants and the New York City Epidemics of 1892 by Howard Markel.  The Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, 1997, 1999
  
  A fascinating study of the historic, social, political, epidemiological and medical aspects of quarantine and disease. Markel focuses on the typhus fever and cholera epidemics among newly arrived immigrants in the19th century American metropolis.

Emerging Diseases

• The Coming Plague: Newly Emerging Diseases in a World Out of Balance by Laurie Garrett. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, NY, 1994
  
  Everything you want to know, or wish you didn't, about emerging diseases such as AIDS and Hanta virus, and old ones like influenza and the plague. Microbiology, epidemiology, history, politics and economics are all considered in this massive, New York Times bestselling book by Pulitzer Prize-winning health and science writer Laurie Garrett.
  
  
• Emerging Infectious Diseases. The CDC, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
  
  The CDC's peer-reviewed journal tracks and analyzes disease trends.

Viruses

• A Dancing Matrix: How Science Confronts Emerging Viruses by Robin Marantz Henig. Vintage Books, Random House, New York, 1993
  
  Clear yet poetic examination of the relationship between humans and viruses. A good explanation of the relationship between virus and disease.
  
  
• The Big Picture Book of Viruses
  
  You can search alphabetically by disease. List of infectious diseases in humans and links to pictures of the viruses that cause them.

Antibiotic Resistance

• "Behind Enemy Lines." Scientific American, May 2001
  
  An overview of the causes of antibiotic resistance and new strategies for antibacterial research. Written by K.C. Nicolaou and Christopher N.C. Boddy. (Paid-access article. Also available in print.)
  
  
• CDC National Center for Infections Diseases Antimicrobial Resistance
  
  This frequently updated CDC site includes the most recent update of the Antimicrobial Resistance Interagency Task Force Annual Report, current action plans, studies, notices of public meetings, a bibliography and links to other sources.
  
  
• "Playing Chicken with our Antibiotics." Time, January 21-27, 2002
  
  Activist consumer groups voiced fears that eating poultry treated with the related antibiotic Baytil could stimulate human antibiotic resistance. In response, fast food giants stopped buying treated chickens, and major poultry producers cut back on antibiotic use.
  
  
• Antimicrobial Resistance: Latest Information. FDA Center for Veterinary Medicine
  
  News, reports and advisories from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
  
  
• "Poultry Industry Reduces Antibiotic Use On Chickens." New York Times, February 10, 2002
  
  This article is reprinted on the website of the Federation of Animal Science Societies, which presents the poultry industry perspective.
  
  
• Multi-drug Resistant HIV Emerges in NYC
  
  In February 2005, New York City health officials warned the public of a new, multi-drug resistant strain of HIV.

Bioterrorism

• Center for Biosecurity of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC)
  
  Start here if you're looking for information about how medical and governmental organizations are preparing for potential bioterrorist attacks.  You can read the Biosecurity and Bioterrorism Journal online. Also, check out a FAQ which concisely responds to several practical concerns about bioterrorism.
  
  
• MEDLINEplus: Biodefense and Bioterrorism
  
  News, overviews, and a number of relevant articles make this a good portal for information on biological weapons.
  
  
• U.S. President Bush launches "Project Bioshield"
  
  The United States will spend six billion dollars over the next ten years to create reserves of drugs and vaccines to protect against potential bioterror weapons including anthrax, smallpox, plague and the ebola virus.
  
  
• Bioterrorism Preparedness and Defense Program. CDC.
  
  An A-to-Z guide to biological agents and related diseases. Brought to you by the CDC.
  
  
• Bioterror
  
  The rich companion website to Bioterror, a 2001 PBS/NOVA TV series (rebroadcast in 2003), includes a capsule history of bioterrorism through the ages, video clips and a teacher's guide. You can even create virtual vaccines in your own online laboratory.
  
  
• Project SHAD. United States Department of Defense
  
  Recently declassified documents (2001-2002) reveal the U.S. military tested bioweapons on its own troops during the cold war. The Veteran's Administration is concerned about health effects.

Smallpox

• Smallpox. Centers for Disease Control (CDC)
  
  A worldwide vaccination campaign eradicated smallpox in 1980. Now, the only killer disease ever conquered is back in the news, considered a potential bioweapon. The United States is scrambling to produce, test, and plan a strategic vaccination initiative. But the potentially grave side effects of the live- virus vaccine make it controversial. You can get plenty of detailed information on the virus, the disease, the vaccine, and the medical and public policy controversies, along with broad overviews, on the CDC's frequently-updated site.
  
  
• Smallpox Vaccination Recommendations. Centers for Disease Control (CDC), 2003.
  
  
• Genetically Modified Smallpox Possible
  
  The World Health Organization (WHO) may permit experiments with genetically modified, live smallpox virus. Proponents hope to create new vaccines, critics warn of unintended release, and development of new bioweapons. See the report at NewScientist.com.
  
  NPR broke the story on Morning Edition, November 11, 2004 and All Things Considered, November 12.

Anthrax

The 2001 Anthrax scare had health officials marshalling all their scientific resources for both detection and analysis of the spores that were mailed out. Among the most powerful investigative tools was DNA analysis.

How do health officials figure out where samples of bacteria like anthrax came from? As we were finishing up the on The DNA Files radio shows, the story of the first anthrax attack in Florida was just beginning to unfold. Here are a few links on the subject:

• "Genetic sleuths rush to identify anthrax strains in mail attacks," Nature.com
  
  In 2001 investigators used DNA "fingerprinting" to try to determine the source of anthrax used as bioweapons in a rash of mail attacks. By 2003 researchers had sequenced the genomes of critical anthrax strains, as summarized in GenomeBiology.com.
  
  
• Anthrax Basics. Centers for Disease Control (CDC)
  
  Information on the biology of anthrax, treatments and avoidance. From CDC Emergency Preparedness and Response.

Polio

• The Global Polio Eradication Initiative
  
  News, position papers, links, and more from the hub of an international effort to eliminate polio.
  
  
• "Polio Made From Scratch." Nature Science Update, July 12, 2002
  
  In July, 2002 a research team funded by DARPA (the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency) created the world's first totally synthetic virus - Polio. Should science originate deadly pathogens in the effort to defend against bioterrorism? The study was originally reported in Science. (Paid-access article.)
  
  
• Rumors of nefarious plots retard polio eradication campaign
  
  Global efforts to eradicate polio by 2005 were thwarted by beliefs that vaccinations were contaminated or intended to render African women infertile. CBS news reports.

Malaria

• Focus on Malaria. Nature (Special Issue), October 3, 2002
  
  Having sequenced the genomes of both the parasite which causes most human malaria, Plasmodium falciparum, and its mosquito carrier, Anopheles gambiae, scientists are looking forward to finally pinning down a vaccine for malaria, as well as developing effective new drugs. This site includes a time line, links to the genetic sequences, and articles on the history and biology of the malaria parasite.
  
  
• Progress on Malaria Vaccine. New Scientist, October 15, 2004
  
  Finally, a hint of success in the quest for a malaria vaccine. A report from New Scientist.
  
  
• The Malaria Vaccine Initiative, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
  
  Provides background information and links to scientific and general interest articles, as well as news items tracking progress in the international fight against malaria.
  

Cholera

• "Vibrio cholerae and Asiatic Cholera"
  
  An excellent introduction to cholera: the microbe and the disease. By Kenneth Todar, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Department of Biology. From Todar's Online Textbook of Bacteriology.
  
  
• "DNA sequence of both chromosomes of the cholera pathogen Vibrio cholerae." Nature, Volume 406:477-83, August 3, 2000
  
  
• King Cholera by Norman Longmate. London: Hanish Hamilton, 1966.
  
  A well-written classic.
  
  
• Quarantine! East European Jewish Immigrants and the New York City Epidemics of 1892 by Howard Markel. The Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, 1997
  
  A fascinating study of the historic, social, political, epidemiological and medical aspects of quarantine and disease. Markel focuses on the typhus fever and cholera epidemics among newly arrived immigrants in the19th century American metropolis.

Tuberculosis

• Johns Hopkins Center for Tuberculosis Research

  The Johns Hopkins University's Center for Tuberculosis Research website provides the latest news on TB, as well as developing sections on TB treatment and drug information, and data on the global epidemiology and the natural history of TB.

• Timebomb: The Global Epidemic of Multi-Drug Resistant Tuberculosis by Lee B. Reichman with Janice Hopkins Tanne, McGraw Hill, 2001
  
  
• The White Death: A History of Tuberculosis by Thomas Dormandy. New York University Press, 2000
  
  
• The White Plague: Tuberculosis, Man and Society by Rene J. Dubos, et. al. Reissue, Rutgers University Press, 1987
  
  
• Tuberculosis (TB) Control Program. New York City Department of Health
  
  Information on the disease and treatment.

Influenza

• Shortage of flu vaccine troubles U.S. (2004–2005)
  
  Check out the CDC flu website for up-to-date information on vaccine availability, new scientific discoveries, and other flu facts.
  
  
• Flu Experts Meet to Design Vaccine
  
  Listen to NPR's February 2005 report on the annual effort to design next year's flu vaccine.
  
  
• America's Forgotten Pandemic: The Influenza of 1918 by Alfred Crosby, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1989.
  
  A well-written classic.
  
  
• "Drug therapy: Prevention and treatment of influenza." NEJM, Volume 343(24):1778-1787, December 14, 2000
  
  A review, written by Robert B. Couch, of developments in flu prevention and treatment.
  
  
• Influenza 1918
  
  Companion website to PBS/American Experience documentary on the worldwide 1918 influenza epidemic. Includes program transcript, interviews, timeline, historical information, and a useful bibliography.