Plague A Very Short Introduction

Plague A Very Short Introduction is a book by Paul Slack.

It is a part of the Oxford University Press A Very Short Introduction series of academic books.

It is a very important work on the plague. It identifies the plague, it discusses the Greek and Latin meaning of the word, how the plague spread, how the plague was treated by the medical practitioners of the day, the symptoms of the plague and how the dead were dealt with. On page 3, for example, there is a photograph of a London burial pit, which  was identified as probably having been used during the plague of 1665-6.

The book focused on the disease's history, major epidemics, times throughout history when it was sweeping through communities and also right down to more recent times, the early decades of the 20th century.

The book points out that due to advances in medical science and in public health measures the plague has become less of a severe threat to humanity.

It points out that the disease still exists and that there are episodic flare ups in various parts of the world and that it persists in animals.

Worryingly it points out that human cases have been rising since the 1990s, the WHO, Slack states, reports 1,000 to 5,000 cases every year.

Although it is a very short introduction Slack covers all the main points on the plague, who first identified it, when it was first isolated, the vector of the disease and so forth.

It costs £7.99 and is a must read for all medical students,health practitioners and students of the history of medicine and of history in general.