The A-Z of Epidemiology:

January 21, 2013 3:18 PM

Germs from Anthrax to Zoonoses. A disturbing bedtime book for kids.

In order:

Anthrax (previously)
Botulism (previously)
Chlamydia (previously)
Diphtheria
Ebola
Food Poisoning
Giardia
Herpes
Intestines
John Snow MD
Klebsiella
Legionella
Measels
Norovirus (previously)
Opportunistic Pathogen
Petri Dish
Q Fever
Rabies
Swine Flu
Trichinosis (previously)
Urine (an exhaustive report of what is in urine and what it can do to you, NASA Contractor Report No. NASA CR-1802, D. F. Putnam, July 1971 (PDF))
Veins
Washing
Xylella
Yersinia
Zoonoses

posted by Blasdelb (15 comments total)

Disturbing? Who doesn't want to cuddle up with one of these guys?
posted by the man of twists and turns at 3:33 PM on January 21 [4 favorites]

This is great!
posted by gingerbeer at 3:44 PM on January 21

This is rather cute.

Who doesn't want to cuddle up with one of these guys?

Our cat loves cuddling with his Toxoplasmosis. Why not, we likely already are.
posted by arcticseal at 3:54 PM on January 21 [1 favorite]

My local pharmacy sells those. I got my brother an ulcer for his birthday. They're really cute!
posted by eviemath at 4:02 PM on January 21

Uh, not to be too pedantic but this should more accurately be titled "the A-Z of infectious disease."
posted by docgonzo at 4:04 PM on January 21 [4 favorites]

"Zoonoses" is a cop out.
posted by cromagnon at 4:21 PM on January 21

oh come on, the Encyclopedia of Plague and Pestilence is one of my all time favorite gifts and a prized possession. I would have eaten this up as a kid!!!!
posted by supermedusa at 4:36 PM on January 21

shout out for my homie Y.pestis oh yeahhhhhh
posted by supermedusa at 4:39 PM on January 21

In case you're interested, this opus is due to Jennifer Gardy, who also published an interesting analysis of tuberculosis genomes alongside patterns of human contact in the New England Journal of Medicine a couple of years ago.

If you're a real bioinformatics wonk, then you might also appreciate her earlier work on the PSORTb algorithm, which does an amazingly good job of taking mysterious bacterial protein sequences and telling you where in the cell they are likely to end up. Most prediction methods in bioinformatics fall somewhere on a scale of "meh" to "maybe useful", but this one even outperforms most experimental methods that aim to do the same thing.
posted by aeolicus at 5:28 PM on January 21 [1 favorite]

Xylella is a stretch. I'd have gone with X-linked. And V should have been for Vector.
posted by gingerest at 5:33 PM on January 21

Vibrio cholerae!
posted by aeolicus at 5:35 PM on January 21 [1 favorite]

Oh, yeah, for sure, if you have to stay with germs, Vibrios are where it's at. (V. parahaemolyticus and V. vulnificus aren't as famous or deadly as their cholera-causin' cousin, but they make pretty hostile dinner guests, and V. vulnificus also has a nasty habit of infecting wounds sustained in tainted saltwater.)
posted by gingerest at 5:47 PM on January 21 [2 favorites]

Not exactly thrilled about "leaving her for herpes".
posted by taff at 8:04 PM on January 21 [1 favorite]

I'd like to see a kickstarter to print up a nice glossy set of the infectious disease trading cards.
posted by BrotherCaine at 12:53 AM on January 22

Not exactly thrilled about "leaving her for herpes".
posted by taff at 4:04 AM on January 22

Neither was she!
posted by Decani at 2:12 AM on January 22