Outside - Americas leading active-lifestyle and adventure-travel magazine dedicated to covering the people, activities, gear, art, and politics of the world outside.
Effective antibiotics are available to treat tuberculosis, yet 2 billion people worldwide are infected and statistics indicate that 8 million more will become infected in the next 12 months. In fact, 2 or 3 million people will likely die from the disease each year. This title looks at the past, present, and future challenges of a disease that has plagued mankind since antiquity.
Severe acute respiratory syndrome, known as SARS, was first reported in Asia in 2003, after a Chinese-American businessman died from a mysterious illness. Soon, many of the people who had treated this man became sick with the same respiratory symptoms. SARS quickly spread across Southeast Asia and China, and caused widespread fear of a global epidemic when it reached Toronto, Canada. In all, more than 8,000 people became ill, and nearly 800 died. Although SARS was quickly contained, future outbreaks remain a threat.
It is estimated that more than 500 million people throughout the world are infected with one of the six kinds of hepatitis viruses. Although hepatitis can be fatal, many people who are infected never show symptoms and don't realize they have the virus. This fact makes it easy for people to unknowingly spread the disease to others, especially through sexual contact. This book examines each of the six hepatitis viruses, focusing on how they cause infection, how they spread from one person to another and how our body's immune system tries to fight them.
Until recently, chicken pox was a rite of passage for children and was often looked upon as just a nuisance, although this illness can cause complications in some people. Though the development and use of a chicken pox vaccine has reduced the number of chicken pox cases, the unvaccinated remain vulnerable. In addition, shingles, a painful condition that can arise after an initial chicken pox infection, is a concern, particularly in older people.
