Pandemic: Tracking Contagions, from Cholera to Ebola and Beyond

Pandemic: Tracking Contagions, from Cholera to Ebola and Beyond by Sonia Shah, 271 pages.

Sonia Shah, medical writer extraordinaire, presents a compelling account of both historic cholera epidmecs, and more recent events, such as ebola and bired-flu epidemics that have threatened to become pandemics. She traces cholera from its origins in the flooding mangrove swamps in the Sundarbans region of what is now Bangaladesh, to the recent outbreak in Haiti. Shah explains how the Vibrio Cholare bacterium had always been present, occasionally causing illness in those who wandered out into those waters. It wasn't until the vibrio mutated, changed to secrete a strong toxin, and found a way to attach itself to the inner walls of its human host's intestine.
Epidemiologists now live in fear for when the next zoonoses  adapts for human to human transmission.
I look forward to reading her 2010 book, The Fever: How Malaria Has Ruled Humankind for 500,000 Years.