9781523513291

"[A] rich and thought-provoking book... It's also a profound reconsideration of our common understanding of our most famous stories of sickness and science."
—Salon.com

“A thorough and morbidly funny study of some of the world’s deadliest diseases… Readers will be swept away by this energetic and enlightening survey”
—Publishers Weekly, starred review
 
“If only my AP Bio textbook had been so fun. From Mad Cow to Monkeypox, here’s everything you wanted to know about the diseases you’re glad you don’t have. Hopefully!”
—Mo Rocca, author of Mobituaries
 
“Some of these stories read like gripping crime novels, some like Victorian tragedies, and some like futuristic thrillers. Patient Zero is essential and—dare I say it—entertaining reading.”
—Amy Stewart, author of The Drunken Botanist and Wicked Plants
 
“A fascinating foray into the etiology of fevers, flus, and other foul febrilities.”
—James Nestor, New York Times bestselling author of Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art
 
“Patient Zero offers an encyclopedic presentation of historic outbreaks that tell fascinating and fast-moving tales of courage, tragedy, and loss (of life, of limbs, of freedom…of noses).”
—Dr. Brandy Schillace, author of Mr. Humbleand Dr. Butcher
 
“There is something here to astound even the most seasoned medical historian. I found myself utterly engrossed.”
—Dr. Lindsey Fitzharris, author of The Butchering Art