From preeminent LGBTQ scholar, social critic, and journalist Steven W. Thrasher comes a powerful and crucial exploration of one of the most pressing issues of our times: how viruses expose the fault lines of society.

Having spent a ground-breaking career studying the racialization, policing, and criminalization of HIV, Dr. Thrasher has come to understand a deeper truth at the heart of our society: that there are vast inequalities in who is able to survive viruses and that the ways in which viruses spread, kill, and take their toll are much more dependent on social structures than they are on biology alone.

Told through the heart-rending stories of friends, activists, and teachers navigating the novel coronavirus, HIV, and other viruses, Dr. Thrasher brings the reader with him as he delves into the viral underclass and lays bare its inner workings. In the tradition of Isabel Wilkerson’s Caste and Michelle Alexander’s The New Jim Crow, The Viral Underclass helps us understand the world more deeply by showing the fraught relationship between privilege and survival.

The terrorist use of diseases as bioweapons has been one of the major security concerns in recent years, particularly after the anthrax letter attacks in the USA in 2001. This uncertain threat of intentional outbreaks of diseases exists side by side with the constantly changing very real threat from diseases, epidemics and pandemics as recently illustrated by the H1N1 influenza pandemic, SARS, and H5N1 bird influenza events. This publication contains case studies on the public health planning for (un)usual disease outbreaks for 11 large and small countries with a focus on South Eastern Europe. In many countries, military entities traditionally play an important role in emergency response to disease outbreaks. In smaller countries, very little exists, however, in terms of specific biopreparedness efforts (in both the military and civilian area), which is at least partly due to a relatively low bioterrorism threat perception, and serious resource constraints. The uncertainty associated with the bioterrorism threat makes public health preparedness planning for such events politically and financially very difficult. The similarity of responding to bioterrorism events and natural disease outbreaks from a public health point of view suggests the merit of looking at biopreparedness as a part of overall health emergency planning, not as a separate effort.

Mathematical epidemiology of infectious diseases usually involves describing the flow of individuals between mutually exclusive infection states. One of the key parameters describing the transition from the susceptible to the infected class is the hazard of infection, often referred to as the force of infection. The force of infection reflects the degree of contact with potential for transmission between infected and susceptible individuals. The mathematical relation between the force of infection and effective contact patterns is generally assumed to be subjected to the mass action principle, which yields the necessary information to estimate the basic reproduction number, another key parameter in infectious disease epidemiology. It is within this context that the Center for Statistics (CenStat, I-Biostat, Hasselt University) and the Centre for the Evaluation of Vaccination and the Centre for Health Economic Research and Modelling Infectious Diseases (CEV, CHERMID, Vaccine and Infectious Disease Institute, University of Antwerp) have collaborated over the past 15 years. This book demonstrates the past and current research activities of these institutes and can be considered to be a milestone in this collaboration. This book is focused on the application of modern statistical methods and models to estimate infectious disease parameters. We want to provide the readers with software guidance, such as R packages, and with data, as far as they can be made publicly available.

This volume, representing a compilation of authoritative reviews on a multitude of uses of statistics in epidemiology and medical statistics written by internationally renowned experts, is addressed to statisticians working in biomedical and epidemiological fields who use statistical and quantitative methods in their work. While the use of statistics in these fields has a long and rich history, explosive growth of science in general and clinical and epidemiological sciences in particular have gone through a see of change, spawning the development of new methods and innovative adaptations of standard methods. Since the literature is highly scattered, the Editors have undertaken this humble exercise to document a representative collection of topics of broad interest to diverse users. The volume spans a cross section of standard topics oriented toward users in the current evolving field, as well as special topics in much need which have more recent origins. This volume was prepared especially keeping the applied statisticians in mind, emphasizing applications-oriented methods and techniques, including references to appropriate software when relevant.
- Contributors are internationally renowned experts in their respective areas
- Addresses emerging statistical challenges in epidemiological, biomedical, and pharmaceutical research
- Methods for assessing Biomarkers, analysis of competing risks
- Clinical trials including sequential and group sequential, crossover designs, cluster randomized, and adaptive designs
- Structural equations modelling and longitudinal data analysis

The field of genetics is rapidly evolving and new medical breakthroughs are occuring as a result of advances in knowledge of genetics. This series continually publishes imporatnt reviews of the broadest interest to geneticists and their colleagues in affiliated disciplines.

Fertility and Pregnancy: An Epidemiologic Perspective, is a lively overview of human reproduction: how it works, and what causes it to go wrong. Weaving together history, biology, obstetrics, pediatrics, demography, infectious diseases, molecular genetics, and evolutionary biology, Allen Wilcox brings a fresh coherence to the epidemiologic study of reproduction and pregnancy. Along the way, he provides entertaining anecdotes, superb graphs, odd tidbits and occasional humor that bring the topic to life.
The book is divided into two sections. The first lays the foundations - the basic principles of reproductive physiology, demography, infectious diseases, and genetics as they apply to human reproduction. The second part deals with the endpoints of reproductive epidemiology - a spectrum ranging from infertility and fetal loss to birth defects and the delayed effects of fetal exposures. The book closes with a discussion of unsolved problems, suggesting possible research projects for a new generation of epidemiologists. An extensive glossary makes this a valuable reference as well as an enjoyable read.

An 1865 report on public health in New York painted a grim picture of "high brick blocks and closely-packed houses . . . literally hives of sickness" propagating epidemics of cholera, smallpox, typhoid, typhus, and yellow fever, which swept through the whole city. In this stimulating collection of essays, nine historians of American medicine explore New York's responses to its public health crises from colonial times to the present. The essays illustrate the relationship between the disease environment of New York and changes in housing, population, social conditions, and the success of medical science, linking such factors to New York's experiences with smallpox, polio, and AIDS. The volume is essential reading for anyone interested in American public health and the social history of New York. The volume is essential reading for anyone interested in American public health and the social history of New York. The contributors are Ronald Bayer, Elizabeth Blackmar, Gretchen A. Condran, Elizabeth Fee, Daniel M. Fox, Evelynn M. Hammonds, Alan M. Kraut, Judith Walzer Leavitt, and Naomi Rogers. David Rosner is a professor of history at Baruch College and The Graduate School of the City University of New York. Robert R. Macdonald is the director of the Museum of the City of New York.

Infectious diseases are an ever present threat to humans. In recent years, the threat of these emerging viruses has been greater than ever before in human history, due in large part to global travel by larger numbers of people, and to a lesser extent to disruptions in the interface between developed and undeveloped areas. The emergence of new deadly viruses in human populations during recent decades has confirmed this risk. They remain the third leading cause of deaths in the US and the second world-wide.
Emerging Viruses in Human Populations provides a comprehensive review of viruses that are emerging or that threaten to emerge among human populations in the twenty-first century. It discusses the apprehension over emerging viruses that has intensified due to concerns about bioterrorism.
* Presents the history of emerging viruses
* Includes chapters on SARS, Pandemic Threat of Avian Influenza Viruses, West Nile Virus, Monkeypox Virus, Hantavirus, Nipah Virus and Hendra Virus, Japanese Encephalitis Virus, Dengue and Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever Viruses
* Discusses surveillance for newly emerging diseases

This comprehensive, up-to-date volume defines the issues and offers potential solutions to the challenges of antimicrobial resistance. The chapter authors are leading international experts on antimicrobial resistance among a variety of bacteria, viruses including HIV and herpes, parasites and fungi. The chapters explore the molecular mechanisms of drug resistance, the immunology and epidemiology of resistance strains, clinical implications and implications on research and lack thereof, and prevention and future directions.

The Vital and Health Statistics Series, or what documents and medical librarians call The Rainbow Series, includes four series published by the U.S. National Health Survey between 1958 and 1963, and eighteen series published by the National Center for Health Statistics since 1963. Sixteen of these series are still active. In this volume, Jim Walsh and A. James Bothmer list, annotate, and index all of the reports published in the Rainbow Series, a total of 853 reports. Each entry contains standard bibliographical information and cataloging, publisher, and index/abstract access information. The body of the book arranges the reports first by series and then by report number within each series. Each series begins with a series cover sheet, which provides general information about the series. The work concludes with author, title, and subject indexes. The subject index uses the Library of Congress Subject Headings and the National Library of Medicine Subject Headings. This useful volume is the only source that lists, annotates, and indexes all of the reports and that provides supplemental information that will enhance reference, interlibrary loan, cataloging, and acquisition information, and that will enhance the use of these valuable reports.

In recent years many introductory textbooks on clinical trial methodology have been published, some of which are excellent, in addition to a very extensive specialist literature. Nevertheless, here is a new book on methods and issues in clinical research. The objectives can be summarized in three points. 1. Integrate medical and statistical components of clinical research. 2. Do justice to the operational and practical requirements of clinical research. 3. Give space to the ethical implications of methodological issues in clinical research.

The scope of clinical research is to evaluate the effect of a treatment on the evolution of a disease in the human species. The treatment can be pharmacological, surgical, psychological/behavioral or organizational/logistic. The disease, intended as an impairment of a state of well-being or a condition capable of provoking such impairment over time, can be universally accepted as such (e.g. a cancer or a bone fracture) or perceived as such only by limited groups of individuals in a given cultural context (e.g. hair loss or weight gain). The course of the disease that ones wishes to change can be the one with no intervention or, more frequently, the one observed with the available treatment. The evaluation of the effect of a treatment on the course of a disease is a lengthy process, which progresses in increasingly complex stages.

A detailed coverage of the logistic, administrative and legal aspects of clinical research is outside the scope of this book. However, throughout the book we keep reminding the reader of these aspects because, as already mentioned, we firmly believe they have a crucial role in determining the success of a study. The history of clinical research is paved with relics of studies started with great pomp, riding great ideas and great hopes, which drowned miserably because of inadequate logistical preparation. In our experience, the excessive complexity of a clinical trial is the single most frequent cause of failure: the study is perfect on paper, but impossible to implement by patients and staff alike. The distance between the principal investigators and the reality of clinical research in its day-to-day practice is often the main cause of such disasters. We warmly encourage everyone involved in clinical research to get involved in the logistics of a study, learning from colleagues responsible for its practical conduct (clinical research associates, data managers, etc.) and to take part, in person, in the practical implementation of a trial before attempting to design a study protocol.

The book ends with a brief description of the drug development process and to the phases of clinical development.

Rapid technological advances in devices used for data collection have led to the emergence of a new class of longitudinal data: intensive longitudinal data (ILD). Behavioral scientific studies now frequently utilize handheld computers, beepers, web interfaces, and other technological tools for collecting many more data points over time than previously possible. Other protocols, such as those used in fMRI and monitoring of public safety, also produce ILD, hence the statistical models in this volume are applicable to a range of data. The volume features state-of-the-art statistical modeling strategies developed by leading statisticians and methodologists working on ILD in conjunction with behavioral scientists. Chapters present applications from across the behavioral and health sciences, including coverage of substantive topics such as stress, smoking cessation, alcohol use, traffic patterns, educational performance and intimacy.
Models for Intensive Longitudinal Data (MILD) is designed for those who want to learn about advanced statistical models for intensive longitudinal data and for those with an interest in selecting and applying a given model. The chapters highlight issues of general concern in modeling these kinds of data, such as a focus on regulatory systems, issues of curve registration, variable frequency and spacing of measurements, complex multivariate patterns of change, and multiple independent series. The extraordinary breadth of coverage makes this an indispensable reference for principal investigators designing new studies that will introduce ILD, applied statisticians working on related models, and methodologists, graduate students, and applied analysts working in arange of fields. A companion Web site at www.oup.com/us/MILD contains program examples and documentation.

This highly practical resource brings new dimensions to the utility of qualitative data in health research by focusing on naturally occurring data. It examines how naturally occurring data complement interviews and other sources of researcher-generated health data, and takes readers through the steps of identifying, collecting, analyzing, and disseminating these findings in ethical research with real-world relevance. The authors acknowledge the critical importance of evidence-based practice in today's healthcare landscape and argue for naturally occurring data as a form of practice-based evidence making valued contributions to the field. And chapters evaluate frequently overlooked avenues for naturally occurring data, including media and social media sources, health policy and forensic health contexts, and digital communications. Included in the coverage:* Exploring the benefits and limitations of using naturally occurring data in health research * Considering qualitative approaches that may benefit from using naturally occurring data * Utilizing computer-mediated communications and social media in health * Using naturally occurring data to research vulnerable groups * Reviewing empirical examples of health research using naturally occurring data Using Naturally Occurring Data in Qualitative Health Research makes concepts, methods, and rationales accessible and applicable for readers in the health and mental health fields, among them health administrators, professionals in research methodology, psychology researchers, and practicing and trainee clinicians.

This book provides a practical, comprehensive and up-to-date overview of the use of spatial statistics in epidemiology - the study of the incidence and distribution of diseases. Used appropriately, spatial analytical methods in conjunction with GIS and remotely sensed data can provide significant insights into the biological patterns and processes that underlie disease transmission. In turn, these can be used to understand and predict disease prevalence. This user-friendly text brings together the specialised and widely-dispersed literature on spatial analysis to make these methodological tools accessible to epidemiologists for the first time.
With its focus is on application rather than theory, Spatial Analysis in Epidemiology includes a wide range of examples taken from both medical (human) and veterinary (animal) disciplines, and describes both infectious diseases and non-infectious conditions. Furthermore, it provides worked examples of methodologies using a single data set from the same disease example throughout, and is structured to follow the logical sequence of description of spatial data, visualisation, exploration, modelling and decision support. This accessible text is aimed at graduate students and researchers dealing with spatial data in the fields of epidemiology (both medical and veterinary), ecology, zoology and parasitology, environmental science, geography and statistics.

Advances in Growth Curve Models: Topics from the Indian Statistical Institute is developed from the Indian Statistical Institute's A National Conference on Growth Curve Models. This conference took place between March 28-30, 2012 in Giridih, Jharkhand, India. Jharkhand is a tribal area. Advances in Growth Curve Models: Topics from the Indian Statistical Institute shares the work of researchers in growth models used in multiple fields. A growth curve is an empirical model of the evolution of a quantity over time. Case studies and theoretical findings, important applications in everything from health care to population projection, form the basis of this volume. Growth curves in longitudinal studies are widely used in many disciplines including: Biology, Population studies, Economics, Biological Sciences, SQC, Sociology, Nano-biotechnology, and Fluid mechanics. Some included reports are research topics that have just been developed, whereas others present advances in existing literature. Both included tools and techniques will assist students and researchers in their future work. Also included is a discussion of future applications of growth curve models.

The book is organized so as to address in separate sections first the preparatory topics of medicine (clinical and epidemiological), science in general, and statistics (mathematical); then topics of epidemiological research proper; and, finally, topics of 'meta-epidemiological' clinical research. In those two main sections, a further grouping is based on the distraction between objects and methods of study. In this framework, the particular topics are addressed both descriptively and quasi-prescriptively, commonly with a number of explicatory annotations. This book is intended to serve as a handbook for whomever is, in whatever way, concerned with epidemiological or 'meta-epidemiological' clinical research. But besides this, it is also intended to serve as a textbook for students in introductory courses on 'epidemiological' research - to which end there is a suggested hierarchy of the concepts that might reasonably be covered.

After graduating from Tripoli, Libya in 1990, Dr Benamer came to the United Kingdom in 1991 to further his training in medicine. He obtained the MRCP in 1994 and trained in neurology in Glasgow. He obtained a PhD and CCST in 2000 and was appointed a consultant neurologist in Wolverhampton and Birmingham the same year. He has been the lead neurologist in New Cross Hospital in Wolverhampton since 2006. Dr Benamer is a general neurologist with special interest in movement disorders.

Dr Benamer is honorary clinical senior lecturer in Birmingham University and has an interest in medical education, in which he obtained a postgraduate certificate from Keele University in 2007. He has published more than 35 papers and two books. He is currently a senior editor of the Libyan Journal of Medicine. He was also an examiner of the MRCP Diploma from 2005 to 2009.

Dr Benamer's publications relevant to the subject of the book:

1. Benamer HT. 2007. Neurological disorders in Libya: an overview. "Neuroepidemiology" 29:143-9

2. Benamer HT. 2008. The ancestry of LRRK2 Gly2019Ser parkinsonism. "Lancet neurology" 7:769-70; author reply 70-1

3. Benamer HT, de Silva R, Siddiqui KA, Grosset DG. 2008. Parkinson's disease in Arabs: a systematic review. "Movement disorders: official journal of the Movement Disorder Society" 23:1205-10

4. Benamer HT, Ahmed ES, Al-Din AS, Grosset DG. 2009. Frequency and clinical patterns of multiple sclerosis in Arab countries: a systematic review. "Journal of the neurological sciences" 278:1-4

5. Benamer HT, Grosset D. 2009. Stroke in Arab countries: a systematic literature review. "Journal of the neurological sciences" 284:18-23

6. Benamer HT, Grosset DG. 2009. A systematic review of the epidemiology of epilepsy in Arab countries. "Epilepsia" 50:2301-4

7. Benamer HT, Shakir RA. 2009. The neurology map of the Arab world. "Journal of the neurological sciences" 285:10-2

8. Benamer HT. 2010. Neurology expertise and postgraduate training programmes in the Arab world: a survey. "European neurology" 64:313-8

9. Benamer HT, de Silva R. 2010. LRRK2 G2019S in the North African population: a review. "European neurology" 63:321-5

10. Benamer HT, Deleu D, Grosset D. 2010. Epidemiology of headache in Arab countries. "The journal of headache and pain" 11:1-3

11. Benamer HT. 2011. More epidemiological studies of neurological disorders are needed in the Arab countries. "Neuroepidemiology" 36:70.

Computer-based infectious disease surveillance systems are capable of real-time or near real-time detection of serious illnesses and potential bioterrorism agent exposures and represent a major step forward in disease surveillance. Infectious Disease Informatics: Syndromic Surveillance for Public Health and Bio-Defense is an in-depth monograph that analyzes and evaluates the outbreak modeling and detection capabilities of existing surveillance systems under a unified framework, and presents the first book-length coverage of the subject from an informatics-driven perspective. Individual chapters consider the state of the art, including the facilitation of data collection, sharing and transmission; a focus on various outbreak detection methods; data visualization and information dissemination issues; and system assessment and other policy issues. Eight chapters then report on several real-world case studies, summarizing and comparing eight syndromic surveillance systems, including those that have been adopted by many public health agencies (e.g., RODS and BioSense). The book concludes with a discussion of critical issues and challenges, with a look to future directions. This book is an excellent source of current information for researchers in public health and IT. Government public health officials and private-sector practitioners in both public health and IT will find the most up-to-date information available, and students from a variety of disciplines, including public health, biostatistics, information systems, computer science, and public administration and policy will get a comprehensive look at the concepts, techniques, and practices of syndromic surveillance.

Ultimately, the quality of the tools available for genetic analysis and experimental disease models will be assessed on the basis of whether they provide new information that generates novel treatments for human disease. In addition, the time frame in which genetic discoveries impact clinical practice is also an important dimension of how society assesses the results of the significant public financial investment in genetic research. Because of the investment and the increased expectation that new tre- ments will be found for common diseases, allowing decades to pass before basic discoveries are made and translated into new therapies is no longer acceptable. Computational Genetics and Genomics: Tools for Understanding Disease provides an overview and assessment of currently available and developing tools for genetic analysis. It is hoped that these new tools can be used to identify the genetic basis for susceptibility to disease. Although this very broad topic is addressed in many other books and journal articles, Computational Genetics and Genomics: Tools for Understanding Disease focuses on methods used for analyzing mouse genetic models of biomedically - portant traits. This volume aims to demonstrate that commonly used inbred mouse strains can be used to model virtually all human disea- related traits. Importantly, recently developed computational tools will enable the genetic basis for differences in disease-related traits to be rapidly identified using these inbred mouse strains. On average, a decade is required to carry out the development process required to demonstrate that a new disease treatment is beneficial.

This book provides a comprehensive and up-to-date review of the relationship between obesity and cancer. It opens with a global perspective on obesity and cancer incidence, followed by in-depth discussions of those cancers for which we have sufficient evidence of a causal relationship with obesity. It addresses topics such as the effects of obesity on cancer incidence and cancer survival, the effects of weight gain and weight loss in adulthood on cancer risk, the effects of childhood and adolescent obesity, and the role of body fat distribution in cancer risk. Individual chapters discuss potential pathways for the observed associations and explore possible mechanisms from both an epidemiological and an experimental perspective. It concludes with a population perspective on the cancer risk that is attributable to obesity and is thus potentially avoidable. This book is of particular value to researchers and epidemiologists and is also of interest to public health workers and clinicians.

This textbook on statistics is written for students in medicine, epidemiology, and public health. It builds on the important role evidence-based medicine now plays in the clinical practice of physicians, physician assistants and allied health practitioners. By bringing research design and statistics to the fore, this book can integrate these skills into the curricula of professional programs. Students, particularly practitioners-in-training, will learn statistical skills that are required of today's clinicians. Practice problems at the end of each chapter and downloadable data sets provided by the authors ensure readers get practical experience that they can then apply to their own work.

Though cholera is an ancient disease, its perennial occurrence in several parts of the world has attracted many researches to find ways and means to combat the disease. The prevailing seventh pandemic cholera is dominating since 1961, but the dimension of the disease has taken several silhouettes, as the genetic structure and functions of the Vibrio cholerae has changed to a great extent. Several recent studies have shown that transformation of the pathogen at the molecular level has ameliorated several cholera outbreaks and epidemics of with successive new clones of V. cholerae. This comprehensive compilation, written by eminent international researchers reviews the epidemiology of cholera in Africa, Asia, Russia and Latin Americas. The other chapters contributed by acclaimed authors cover various aspects on evolution, polysaccaharide biosynthesis, SXT element, integrons, small molecule signalling systems, flagellar synthesis, filamentous phages, pathogenic role of proteases and hemolysin, and other putative virulence factors. In addition, ecology of V. cholerae and management of cholera were also discussed in detail. This book will be good source of information to all researchers with interests in infectious diseases, microbiology and molecular biology.

Epidemiology has often been defined as the study of the distribution of disease, together with the distribution of factors that may modify that risk of disease. As such, epidemiology has often been reduced to a methodology only, providing a mechanism for the study of disease that is somehow removed, separate and apart from the populations that serve as its focus. Epidemiology, however, is much more than that. The discipline p- vides a way of perceiving and knowing the world, and of relating to the c- munities whose health and disease patterns we are trying to understand. As such, its usefulness extends past the construction of questionnaires, the detective work inherent in tracing the source of an infection or the analysis of data. Rather, epidemiology serves as a point of reference and a linkage between various domains of reality: in the courtroom, between a com- nity's injuries and those alleged to be responsible for those violations; between the community striving to effectuate changes to improve its health and environment and the lawmakers and policymakers whose actions may dictate or control the likelihood of that change; and between "mainstream" populations and those who become or remain marginalized and stigmatized due to disease or perceived disease.

Forty years ago, the age-old battle against infectious diseases as a major threat to human health was believed close to being won. However, by the late twentieth century, the increase of emerging and reemerging infectious diseases was evident in both low and high income countries. About 30 new infectious diseases have been identified in the last 20 years. Among the a oenewa diseases, and most importantly, the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) epidemic, with 40 million persons infected and 25 million deaths since its first description, presents one of the most significant health, societal and security challenges facing the global community. The interaction of HIV/AIDS with tuberculosis, malaria and bacterial infections have increased HIV-related morbidity and mortality, and in turn, the HIV pandemic has brought about devastating increases in tuberculosis.

Understanding the population impact and the dynamics of infection diseases in the most affected region is critical to efforts to reduce the morbidity and mortality of such infections, and for decisions on where to use limited resources in the fight against infections.

This book aims to contribute to these efforts by offering a demographic and epidemiological perspective on emerging and reemerging infections in sub-Saharan Africa.