A Geography of Infection

A Geography of Infection explores the distinctive spatial patterns and processes by which infectious diseases spread from place to place and can grow from local and regional epidemics into global pandemics. The book focuses initially on the local scale of doctors’ practices and small islands where epidemic outbreaks are slight in the numbers infected and in geographical extent. Such local area studies raise two questions. First, how and where do epidemic diseases emerge and second, why do more diseases appear to be emerging now? To approach such questions implies a shift in spatial gear from painting epidemics with a fine-tipped local brush to an expanded palette on which doctors’ practices and small islands are replaced by regional and global populations. Simultaneously, time bands are extended backwards to the origins of civilization and forwards into the twenty-first century. It eventually leads to a consideration of global pandemics—both historical (e.g. plague, cholera, and influenza) and contemporary (HIV/AIDS and COVID-19)—and examines the ways the spread of infection can be prevented.