This Web site, created to complement the museum's Epidemic! exhibit, provides an in-depth look at the world of infectious disease. It includes the following sections: Environmental Change looks at how a season of heavy snow and rainfall led to an outbreak of hantavirus in the Four Corners region of the southwestern U.S., and at the different habitat needs of microbes. Long-Term Changes examines how changes to the prehistoric landscape and in our living patterns since the development of agriculture, have made diseases like malaria a major threat in tropical regions. Microbes and Others looks at the three major groups of microbes (viruses, bacteria, and protozoa) and the great variety within each group. Diagnostics and Testing examines how the link between microbes and disease was first made and the many medical advances since then. Infection covers how microbes enter the body and the body's built-in defense mechanisms. Outbreak looks at the different routes microbes use to spread through a population and the work of epidemiologists. Epidemic/Pandemic explores the factors that determine whether an outbreak will become an epidemic or a pandemic. Resources is a list, organized by topic and specific disease, of more than 250 Web sites. Glossary includes nearly 200 infectious disease terms, from AIDS to WHO.

This course consists of an international analysis of the impact of epidemic diseases on western society and culture from the bubonic plague to HIV/AIDS and the recent experience of SARS and swine flu. Leading themes include: infectious disease and its impact on society; the development of public health measures; the role of medical ethics; the genre of plague literature; the social reactions of mass hysteria and violence; the rise of the germ theory of disease; the development of tropical medicine; a comparison of the social, cultural, and historical impact of major infectious diseases; and the issue of emerging and re-emerging diseases.

In this activity, students will learn about John Snow, considered to be the father of epidemiology. They will learn how he used scientific methods to identify the environment in which cholera was spreading. By disrupting this environment, he ended the epidemic. Then students will learn more about modern-day "disease detectives," deciding whether this would be a possible career for them to pursue.

Surveys the conditions of material life and changing social and economic relations in medieval Europe using the comparative context of contemporary Islamic, Chinese, and Japanese experiences. Covers the emergence and decline of feudal institutions, the transformation of peasant agriculture, living standards and the course of epidemic disease, and the ebb and flow of long-distance trade across the Eurasian system. Particular emphasis placed on the study of those factors, both institutional and technological, which contributed to the emergence of capitalist organization and economic growth in western Europe in contrast to the trajectories followed by the other major medieval economies.

This activity from our family magazine series challenges kids to help solve the Case of the Dragon That Caused Diarrhea. The online activity begins with an overview of "The Facts" behind this challenge given to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, along with suggestions for "How to Solve a Microbe Mystery."Before starting the online challenge, kids are taken to a page that explains their "mission" and how to play. A series of six tabs contains details about Cindy's steps towards solving the mystery; using the guidance from "How To Solve a Microbe Mystery," students are asked to correctly order her steps.

" Networks are ubiquitous in our modern society. The World Wide Web that links us to and enables information flows with the rest of the world is the most visible example. It is, however, only one of many networks within which we are situated. Our social life is organized around networks of friends and colleagues. These networks determine our information, influence our opinions, and shape our political attitudes. They also link us, often through important but weak ties, to everybody else in the United States and in the world. Economic and financial markets also look much more like networks than anonymous marketplaces. Firms interact with the same suppliers and customers and use Web-like supply chains. Financial linkages, both among banks and between consumers, companies and banks, also form a network over which funds flow and risks are shared. Systemic risk in financial markets often results from the counterparty risks created within this financial network. Food chains, interacting biological systems and the spread and containment of epidemics are some of the other natural and social phenomena that exhibit a marked networked structure. This course will introduce the tools for the study of networks. It will show how certain common principles permeate the functioning of these diverse networks and how the same issues related to robustness, fragility, and interlinkages arise in several different types of networks."