We use cookies to enhance your experience on our website. By continuing to use our website, you are agreeing to our use of cookies. You can change your cookie settings at any time. Find out more

Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University's objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide.

Print Price: $13.50

Format:
Paperback
160 pp.
5 black and white halftones, 111 mm x 174 mm

ISBN-13:
9780192858511

Publication date:
October 2023

Imprint: OUP UK


Infectious Disease: A Very Short Introduction

Second Edition

Dr Marta Wayne and Dr Benjamin Bolker

Series : Very Short Introductions

Very Short Introductions: Brilliant, Sharp, Inspiring

Infectious disease is a moving target: new diseases emerge every year, old diseases evolve into new forms, and ecological and socioeconomic upheavals change the transmission pathways that spread disease. But where does disease come from? How is it transmitted from one person to another? And why are some individuals more susceptible than others?

In this Very Short Introduction, Marta Wayne and Benjamin Bolker address these questions through the lenses of ecology and evolution. Assessing the management of outbreaks of diseases such as influenza, HIV/AIDS, cholera, and COVID-19, they provide specific examples to illustrate why major diseases still threaten populations all over the world.

ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.

Readership : General readers and students of epidemiology, medicine, and public health

1. Introduction
2. Transmission at different scales
3. Influenza
4. HIV/AIDS
5. Cholera
6. Malaria
7. Amphibian chytrid fungus
8. SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19
9. Looking ahead

There are no Instructor/Student Resources available at this time.

Marta L. Wayne is an evolutionary geneticist at the University of Florida. She has studied virus evolutionary ecology in the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster, a model system for disease in both humans and mosquitoes.

Benjamin M. Bolker is a theoretical ecologist at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario. He has studied the dynamics of disease in organisms as diverse as humans, red grouse, gopher tortoises, and fruit flies.

Genomics: A Very Short Introduction - John M. Archibald
Medical Ethics - Michael Dunn and Tony Hope
Plague: A Very Short Introduction - Paul Slack

Special Features

  • Introduces non-biologist academics to the field of epidemiology
  • Places infectious diseases in the context of ecology and evolution
  • Traces transmission pathways through ecological and sociopolitical factors
  • Part of the Very Short Introductions series - over ten million copies sold worldwide