Patient Zero - by Lydia Kang & Nate Pedersen (Hardcover)

About the Book

How did it start? Why did it spread? How do we stop it?

Packed with one thrilling medical mystery after another, Patient Zero tells the curious story of 21 of the world's worst diseases--including smallpox, Bubonic plague, polio, AIDS--by combining Patient Zero narratives with historical examinations of missteps, milestones, scientific theories, and more. Discover the tragic story of Zaire schoolteacher Mabalo Lokela, whose relaxing vacation resulted in him becoming Patient Zero of Ebola virus disease. How a rye fungus in 1951 turned a small village in France into a phantasmagoric scene reminiscent of Burning Man. And what the devastating 1918 influenza pandemic has to teach us about Covid-19. (Guess what: There was an anti-mask movement back then, too)

Book Synopsis

From the masters of storytelling-meets-science and co-authors of Quackery, Patient Zero tells the long and fascinating history of disease outbreaks--how they start, how they spread, the science that lets us understand them, and how we race to destroy them before they destroy us.

Written in the authors' lively and accessible style, chapters include page-turning medical stories about a particular disease or virus--smallpox, Bubonic plague, polio, HIV--that combine "Patient Zero" narratives, or the human stories behind outbreaks, with historical examinations of missteps, milestones, scientific theories, and more.

Learn the tragic stories of Patient Zeros throughout history, such as Mabalo Lokela, who contracted Ebola while on vacation in 1976, and the Lewis Baby on London's Broad Street, the first to catch cholera in an 1854 outbreak that led to a major medical breakthrough. Interspersed are origin stories of a different sort--how a rye fungus in 1951 turned a small village in France into a phantasmagoric scene reminiscent of Burning Man. Plus the uneasy history of human autopsy, how the HIV virus has been with us for at least a century, and more.

Review Quotes

"[A] rich and thought-provoking book... It's also a profound reconsideration of our common understanding of our most famous stories of sickness and science."
--Salon.com

"A thorough and morbidly funny study of some of the world's deadliest diseases... Readers will be swept away by this energetic and enlightening survey"
--Publishers Weekly, starred review

"If only my AP Bio textbook had been so fun. From Mad Cow to Monkeypox, here's everything you wanted to know about the diseases you're glad you don't have. Hopefully!"
--Mo Rocca, author of Mobituaries

"Some of these stories read like gripping crime novels, some like Victorian tragedies, and some like futuristic thrillers. Patient Zero is essential and--dare I say it--entertaining reading."
--Amy Stewart, author of The Drunken Botanist and Wicked Plants

"A fascinating foray into the etiology of fevers, flus, and other foul febrilities."
--James Nestor, New York Times bestselling author of Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art

"Patient Zero offers an encyclopedic presentation of historic outbreaks that tell fascinating and fast-moving tales of courage, tragedy, and loss (of life, of limbs, of freedom...of noses)."
--Dr. Brandy Schillace, author of Mr. Humbleand Dr. Butcher

"There is something here to astound even the most seasoned medical historian. I found myself utterly engrossed."
--Dr. Lindsey Fitzharris, author of The Butchering Art

About the Author

Lydia Kang, MD, is a practicing internal medicine physician and author of young adult fiction and adult fiction. Her YA novels include Control, Catalyst, and the upcoming The November Girl. Her adult fiction debut is entitled A Beautiful Poison. Her nonfiction has been published in JAMA, the Annals of Internal Medicine, and the Journal of General Internal Medicine.

This author is represented by the Hachette Speakers Bureau.
Nate Pedersen is a librarian, historian, and freelance journalist with over 400 publications in print and online, including in the Guardian, the Believer, the San Francisco Chronicle, and the Art of Manliness.