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

Lydia Kang · Nate Pedersen

Nov 2021 · Sold by Workman Publishing Company

About this ebook

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.

Ratings and reviews

Complete Discussion on Plagues through History This book is not meant for those with weak stomachs. I am usually not phased by medical things, yet this book has pegged my creep-meter. This covers many sordid plagues that have assaulted mankind. There are complete descriptions of the causative agent and illustrations of either the agent or what it does to the human body. I had gotten to where I avoided the illustrations, but the descriptions creeped me out just as badly. It was all very interesting, but I was careful in how much I read per day. Later, in discussing more modern diseases, the sidebars were much more palatable. There are parts of the book that take an obvious political position that I found disturbing. For an author to color their non-fiction work with obvious political favoritism makes me wonder about the content of this book. Since I only found this to be so in covering more modern epidemics and pandemics, the book only lost 1 star. But that political pandering made me think less of the authors and this book. This is just a warning to readers of this book to look behind the curtain as there is political prejudice at work. I would say that this book is a 'must read' for anyone with Hollywood aspirations or anyone who enjoys true horror. I received this ARC book for free from Net Galley and this is my honest review.

It's not bad. A bit too political in a few spots. Frankly not appropriate for a book of this type.

About the author

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.