This is a history of the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of infectious diseases. The author, a physician who participated in many of the events he describes, offers fascinating insights into the medical discoveries that have led to the seemingly miraculous relief experienced by patients suffering from infection.

Just a lifetime ago infections diseases – among them pneumonia, diptheria, tuberculosis, measles, and dysentery – were leading causes of death in America. Today, most of these infections have been brought under control. Dr. Dowling tells how the lethal microorganisms causing these diseases were disarmed through improvements in public health, the development of increasingly effective immunization, and the revolutionary discovery of sulfonamides and antibiotics. But this is more than just a story of laboratories and hospitals; it is an account of the social forces that came into play as radical changes were wrought in the patterns of human health and disease.