Interesting Dates

March 10, 1553 - Ambroise Paré ("the father of modern surgery") published a second edition of his "Method of Curing Wounds Made by Arquebus and Arrows"; first published in 1545 to popularize a revolutionary method he had discovered to treat the new medical problem of gunshot wounds. During the siege of Turin (1536-37), having run out of the oil used to cauterize wounds in the conventional way, Paré turned instead to simple dressings and soothing ointment, and immediately noted the improved condition of his patients.

February 28, 1561 - Ambroise Paré published "La Méthode Curative des Playes et Fractures de la Teste Humaine" ("Treatment method for wounds and fractures of the human head"); written in response to an inquiry following the accidental death of Henri II (1559), who was struck in the eye by a lance during a tournament; Paré is known as "the father of modern surgery."

1601 - James Lancaster first used fruit juice as a preventative for scurvy.

November 14, 1666 - Samuel Pepys, English physician, recorded in his diary that Richard Lower made the first documented blood transfusion on a dog; November 16 - Pepys noted hearing the dog was very well.

June 25, 1667 - Dr. Jean-Baptiste Denys, French doctor, performed first blood transfusion on a human.

April 26, 1721 - Smallpox vaccination first administrated.

June 26, 1721 - Dr. Zabdiel Boylston gave first smallpox inoculations in America when a smallpox epidemic struck Boston, MA.

May 20, 1747 - James Lind, British ship's surgeon on HMS Salisbury, began experiment to remedy scurvy among sailors; regulated diets of the sailors, and especially included lemons and oranges. Positive results quickly showed that scurvy, and the huge numbers of deaths, could be easily remedied.

September 12, 1793 -Thomas Sim, governor of Maryland, declared a quarantine; stopped commerce from Philadelphia to Maryland, due to an outbreak of yellow fever in Philadelphia; first quarantine in the U.S. on a city.

October 11, 1793 - Death toll from a yellow fever epidemic in Philadelphia hit 100; by the time it ended, 5,000 people were dead. In the late summer of 1793, refugees from a yellow fever epidemic in the Caribbean fled to Philadelphia. Within weeks, people throughout the city were experiencing symptoms; middle of October 1793 - - 100 people were dying from the virus every day; city government collapsed from strain of caring for the victims (Philadelphia was the seat of the United States government at the time); federal authorities evacuated the city in face of the raging epidemic. Eventually, a cold front eliminated Philadelphia’s mosquito population; October 26, 1793 - death toll fell to 20 per day. Today, a vaccine prevents yellow fever in much of the world, though 20,000 people still die every year from the disease.

May 14, 1796 - Edward Jenner, an English country doctor from Gloucestershire, administers the world's first vaccination as a preventive treatment for smallpox, a disease that had killed millions of people over the centuries, caused severe skin eruptions and dangerous fevers in humans; took fluid from the sores of dairymaid Sarah Nelmes who had a mild case of cowpox; scratched it into the skin of James Phipps, an eight-year-old boy. A single blister rose up on the spot, but James soon recovered. July 1 - Jenner inoculated the boy again, this time with smallpox matter, and no disease developed. The vaccine was a success. Doctors all over Europe soon adopted Jenner's innovative technique, leading to a drastic decline in new sufferers of the devastating disease; January 21, 1799 - smallpox vaccination was introduced.

July 8, 1800 - Dr. Benjamin Waterhouse gives first cowpox vaccination to his five-year old son in Massachusetts to prevent smallpox.

December 13, 1809 - Dr. Ephraim McDowell, the "Father of Ovariotomy", performed the first U.S. ovariotomy (an abdominal surgical procedure for the surgical removal of an ovarian tumor)  in Danville, Kentucky; a 22-pound ovarian tumor was removed without the aid of an anesthetic; patient, 45 years of age at the time of the operation, lived to be 78.

September 25, 1818 - The first transfusion using human blood, as opposed to animal blood, took place at Guy's Hospital.

March 16, 1819 - Dr John Bostock delivered the first clinical description of  hay fever to a meeting of the Royal Medical and Chirurgical Society in London. The pollens of grasses, weeds and trees are the main causes of this type of allergy, although mold spores can also cause the symptoms. The lining of the nose becomes swollen and exudes a runny discharge. Spells of sneezing and itchiness of the throat and palate also occur and the eyes may be similarly affected.

June 28, 1832 - The first American case of a cholera epidemic was reported in New York City (over by December 1832) - spread through fouled water, victims died after hours of cramps, diarrhea, vomiting.

January 10, 1832 - Thomas Hodgkin, age 34, had a paper ("Some Morbid Appearances of the Absorbent Glands and Spleen") presented to the Medical and Surgical Society in London; mostly ignored; late in 19th century - rare lymphatic disease named Hodkin's disease in England (long after the Germans had started calling it Hodgkin's Krankheit); 1666 - Malpighi had written about the disease, Hodgkin's paper the first to document the disease.

May 5, 1832 - The U.S. government passed an act authorizing the first vaccination program to protect Native Americans against smallpox and allotted $12,000 to pay doctors $6 a day for their services.

June 28, 1832 - First American case of a cholera epidemic, spread through fouled water, reported in New York City; 1817 - First Cholera Pandemic: endemic to the India subcontinent, spread to Arabia, Syria, and southern Russia; early 1920s - abated; 1926 - new cycle began; October 1931 - invaded British Isles, then Canada; December 1932 - disease's hold broke.

March 30, 1842 - Physician Dr. Crawford W. Long of Jefferson, Georgia, first used ether as an anesthetic during a minor operation; placed an ether-soaked towel over the face of James Venable and removed a tumor from his neck; not disclosed until 1849 in the Southern Medical Journal; widely considered to represent the discovery of surgical anesthesia.

September 30, 1846 - Dentist Dr. William Morton used ether, an experimental anesthetic, for tooth extraction for the first time on one of his patients at Massachusetts General Hospital.

May 16, 1849 - New York City Board of Health established a hospital to deal with a cholera epidemic that, before it ended, killed more than 5,000 people; New York City’s first street-cleaning plan was implemented in the face of the epidemic.

1853 - Vaccination against smallpox made compulsory in Britain.

September 8, 1854 - Dr. John Snow, celebrated anaesthetist, removed the handle of the Broad Street water pump in London, effectively halted further spread of cholera; became a pioneer of epidemiology. He had mapped the outbreaks, and thus suspected contamination of this community source of water. Within days after the pump handle was removed, new cases of illness had ceased. Site investigation showed raw sewage from a leaking sewage cesspool that had contaminated the well water.

August 12, 1865 - Dr. Joseph Lister became the first surgeon to use disinfectant during an operation; introduced phenol (carbolic acid) as a form of disinfectant into his surgery (surgical death rate fell from 45% to 15%); first medical person raised to the peerage.

September 1, 1865 - Joseph Lister performed the first antiseptic surgery.

April 1, 1867 - Using antiseptic methods he introduced, Scottish physician Dr. Joseph Lister completed a series of 11 compound fractures; forever changed surgical techniques; June 17, 1867 - became first surgeon to perform surgery under antiseptic conditions.

June 15, 1867 - Dr. John Stough Bobbs, known as "the father of cholecystotomy", performed the first U.S. gallstone operation in Indianapolis, IN; found patient's gall bladder was inflamed and containing structures like "several solid ordinary rifle bullets." He opened the sac, removed multiple gallstones but left the gall bladder in place after closing the defect (cholecystostomy). 

March 21, 1877 - Louis Pasteur begins work on virulent anthrax bacteria in his laboratory at Lille, France; anthrax was cultured for a number of years, resulted in the production of the first vaccine for what was otherwise a fatal disease.

August 13, 1878 - Kate Bionda, a restaurant owner, dies of yellow fever in Memphis, Tennessee, after a man who had escaped a quarantined steamboat visited her restaurant. The disease spread rapidly and the resulting epidemic emptied the city. outbreak of yellow fever was reported in Vicksburg, just south of Memphis. Memphis officials reacted by stopping travel to the city from the south. However, William Warren, a steamboat worker, somehow slipped away and into Kate Bionda’s restaurant on the shore of the Mississippi on August 1. The next day he needed hospitalization and was sent to President’s Island for quarantine, where he died. An average of 200 people died every day through September. There were corpses everywhere and near continual ringing of funeral bells. Half of the city’s doctors died. Twenty-five thousand people picked up and left within a week. The epidemic ended with the first frost in October, but by that time, 20,000 people in the Southeast had died and another 80,000 had survived infection. In the aftermath, open sewers and privies were cleaned up, destroying the breeding grounds for mosquitoes and preventing further epidemics.

May 5, 1881 - Louis Pasteur tested inoculations against anthrax upon an ox, several cows and 25 sheep. His experiment proved successful, and was a milestone in the treatment of disease.

March 24, 1882 - German scientist Robert Koch announced the discovery of the bacillus responsible for tuberculosis.

October 24, 1882 - (Heinrich Hermann) Robert Koch, one of the founders of the science of bacteriology, discovered the tuberculosis germ (tubercle bacillus); 1905 - won the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine.

January 4, 1885 - Dr. William West Grant of Davenport, Iowa, performed what is believed (sources disagree) to be the first successful appendectomy in the U.S.; patient recovered and lived until 1919.

July 6, 1885 - French scientist Louis Pasteur and his colleagues injected the first of 14 daily doses of rabbit spinal cord suspensions containing progressively inactivated rabies virus into 9-year-old Joseph Meister, who had been severely bitten by a rabid dog 2 days before. The immunization was successful. Pasteur's rabies immunization procedure was rapidly adopted throughout the world. The boy grew up and became director of the Pasteur Institute.

April 27, 1887 - George Thomas Morton performed the first U.S. operation to remove an appendix, an appendectomy; saved the life of a 26-year-old man with appendicitis.

March 3, 1892 - Dr. Leonard Pearson, Dean of the Veterinary Department of the University of Pennsylvania, made the first tuberculosis test on cattle in the U.S. with tuberculin that he had brought from Europe.

September 9, 1892 - The New York City health department established the first diagnostic public heath laboratory in the U.S. as its Division of Pathology, Bacteriology and Disinfection (by the scare of Asiatic cholera); 1893 - laboratory expanded its work to test for diphtheria and tuberculosis.

July 9, 1893 - African-American doctor Daniel Hale Williams performed the first successful open-heart surgery at Provident Hospital in Chicago, without anesthesia; removed a knife from the heart of a bar-fight stabbing victim; patient recovered and lived for several years; 1913 - Dr. Williams was the only African-American in a group of 100 charter members of the American College of Surgeons.

December 13, 1893 -  New York City Department of Health, under the direction of Dr. Hermann Michael Biggs, opens the first authorized tuberculosis diagnostic community laboratory in the U.S.; administered sputum examinations, reporting and registrations (compulsory by institutions and voluntary by physicians), official supervision of isolation, terminal disinfection, provision of hospital facilities, and public education; 1894 - Dr. Edward Livingston Trudeau establishes first research laboratory in the U.S. in a room in his home at Saranac Lake, NY.

January 29, 1896 - Émil H. Grubbe, a Chicago researcher, became the first known to administer x-ray radiation treatment for the recurrent breast cancer of a fifty-five-year-old woman; didn't cure the woman's cancer, but others in the late 1890s who applied X-rays to various cancers - especially skin cancer - not only relieved cancer pain but actually cured some, which encouraged continued use and study of the X-rays.

August 20, 1897 - Physician Sir Ronald Ross made a key breakthrough when he discovered malaria parasites while dissecting a mosquito. The day became known as Mosquito Day.

April 29, 1898 - Funds for the first cancer laboratory in the U.S. were appropriated in New York State.

June 26, 1900 - Surgeon-General George M. Sternberg formed a commission to fight against the cause and spread of the deadly yellow fever disease. Dr. Walter Reed was appointed officer-in-charge.

September 13, 1900 - Physician Jesse Lazear (34) was bitten by a mosquito carrying yellow-fever while conducting experiments in Quemados, Cuba to investigate the transmission of that disease. His death, two weeks later, proved that the mosquito was the carrier of yellow-fever.

November 1, 1901 - Dr. J.E. Gillman announced an X-ray treatment for breast cancer.

February 21, 1902 - Dr. Harvey Cushing, the first US brain surgeon, performed his first brain operation.

June 6, 1904 - National Tuberculosis Association organized, Atlantic City, New Jersey.

June 4, 1906 - Pathologist Howard T. Ricketts discovered Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever; caused by an unusual microbe spread by ticks; symptoms similar to typhus except rash starts at extremities and moves to trunk; causes high morbidity with about 70% of cases requiring hospitalization, without which, the untreated mortality rate is about 7% of cases.

December 9, 1907 - Christmas seals went on sale for the first time, at the Wilmington, DE post office. The proceeds went to fight tuberculosis.

August 31, 1909 - Nobel laureate Paul Ehrlich began the first chemotherapy when a rabbit infected with syphilis was injected with "Preparation 606" (number marked the 606th chemical devised and tested by Ehrlich's team at his Frankfort laboratory); compound was so successful that the sores on the rabbit promptly healed. The term "chemotherapy" was coined by Erhlich.

June 22, 1910 - German bacteriologist Paul Ehrlich announced a cure for syphilis.

February 4, 1915 - Dr. Joseph Goldberger begins experiments on a dozen volunteers from the inmates of a Mississippi state prison at Jackson to find the cause of the disease, pellagra (more than 10,000 people died of pellagra in the United States alone in 1915); eventually found that pellagra is caused by poor diet; alerted people to the importance of essential nutrients found in diets, began the "biological age" in nutrition research during which the connection was made between disease and lack of essential nutrients in the diet which we call vitamins.

September 12, 1915 - A prisoner developed a rash associated with the disease pellegra. He was part of a study designed by Dr. Joseph Goldberger to provide a protein-deficient diet for several months to 12 volunteer inmates of the state prison at Jackson, MS; meant a proof that the cause of the deadly disease pellegra was a result of poor diet, and that it was not contagious. For the inmates, it earned a pardon.

July 5, 1916 - Children under 16 are banned from New York City theaters due to an outbreak of polio. Some 200 theaters shut down throughout the summer. 1919 - a similar incident took place when the worldwide flu epidemic results in the closure of many theaters and the temporary halt of new film releases.

March 11, 1918 - First cases of "Spanish Influenza" in the U.S. were reported. Early in the morning, a young private reported to the Army hospital at Fort Riley, Kansas, complaining of fever, sore throat, and headache. By noon, the hospital had more than 100 cases; in a week, there were 500. During the Spring, 48 soldiers died at Fort Riley. No one knew why until the cause of death was identified as influenza - but unlike any strain ever seen. As the killer virus spread across the country, hospitals overfilled, death carts roamed the streets and helpless city officials dug mass graves. It was the worst epidemic in American history, killing over 600,000 - until it disappeared as mysteriously as it had begun. Worldwide, up to 40 million people died in its wake.

September 28, 1918 - A Liberty Loan parade in Philadelphia prompts a huge outbreak of the flu epidemic in the city. By the time the epidemic ended, an estimated 30 million people were dead worldwide. Most likely origin of the 1918 flu pandemic was a bird or farm animal in the American Midwest. The virus may have traveled among birds, pigs, sheep, moose, bison and elk, eventually mutating into a version that took hold in the human population. The best evidence suggests that the flu spread slowly through the United States in the first half of the year, then spread to Europe via some of the 200,000 American troops who traveled there to fight in World War I. By June, the flu seemed to have mostly disappeared from North America, after taking a considerable toll. Spread quickly all over Europe. One of its first stops was Spain, where it killed so many people that it became known the world over as the Spanish Flu. By the end of the summer, about 10,000 people were dead. In most cases, hemorrhages in the nose and lungs killed victims within three days. Overall, in the United States, five out of every thousand people fell victim to the flu.

October 15, 1918 - The leading film studios announced they will stop releasing films temporarily because of the influenza epidemic;; 1916 - New York City had banned children from theaters in an attempt to halt the spread of polio.

October 22, 1918 - The Great Influenza Epidemic began; it was a worldwide epidemic that would eventually claim 18 million lives.

November 7, 1918 -  Influenza epidemic spreads to Western Samoa, kills 7,542 (about 20% of the population) by the end of the year.

July 27, 1921 - Canadians Sir Frederick Banting and Charles Best isolated insulin (anti-diabetic component of the pancreas) from canine test subjects at Toronto University; reproduced diabetic symptoms in animals, began a program of insulin injections that returned the dogs to normalcy; 1923 - insulin  widely available, Banting and Macleod awarded the Nobel Prize in medicine.

January 11, 1922 - First official clinical test of insulin for treatment of Type 1 diabetes on 14-year old Leonard Thompson at Toronto General Hospital; January 23, 1922 - Leonard Thompson becomes the first person to receive an insulin injection as treatment for diabetes.

April 15, 1922 - Canadian physiologist Frederick Banting and John Macleod discovered insulin; May 3, 1922 - the discovery of insulin was officially announced to the medical world; April 15, 1923 - Insulin became generally available for diabetics' use (first discovered in 1922); natural and vital hormone for carbohydrate metabolism in the body, manufactured by the pancreas, extracted from the pancreas of sheep, oxen and other means, including synthesis in the laboratory.

April 7, 1923 - Dr. K. Winfield Ney performed the first operation for a brain tumor under local anesthetic at Beth Israel Hospital in New York City.

June 25, 1924 - Professors Albert Calmette and Alphonse Guerin developed tuberculosis vaccine.

July 29, 1927 - The first iron lung (electric respirator) was installed at Bellevue hospital in New York for the post war polio epidemic; developed at Harvard University by Phillip Drinker and Louis Agassiz Shaw, built with two vacuum cleaners to achieve rhythmic expansion of the chest cage (and thus inhalation).

September 15, 1928 - Alexander Fleming, professor of bacteriology at Mary's Medical School, London University, worked on influenza virus, observed that mold had developed accidentally on a staphylococcus culture plate, had created a bacteria-free circle around itself; found that mold culture prevented growth of staphylococci, even when diluted 800 times. He identified the mold as penicillium notatum, similar to the kind found on bread. February 14, 1929 - introduced mold by-product, called penicillin, to cure bacterial infections.

October 12, 1928 - The artificial respirator, called usually an iron lung, was first demonstrated in a Boston hospital.

April 4, 1932 - Professor C. Glen King, University of Pittsburgh, isolated vitamin C, after five years of effort; extracted components from lemon juice, isolated a crystalline substance, identified, later synthesized vitamin C. Discovery meant prevention of the disease of scurvy, long a source of human suffering. During WW II, King was named chairman of the Nutrition Foundation, which funded research into the nutritional problems facing a country and an army at war. He continued his innovative work with vitamin C until his retirement from Columbia University in 1964.

April 28, 1932 - American Societies for Experimental Biology at Philadelphia, PA announced a vaccine against yellow fever developed by Drs. Wilbur A. Sawyer, Wray D.M. Lloyd, and Stuart F. Kitchen (sponsored by the Rockefeller Foundation).

April 5, 1933 - Dr. Evarts Ambrose Graham performed the first operation to remove a lung, on a fellow physician with lung cancer, at Barnes Hospital in St. Louis, Missouri; seven ribs were removed to permit the soft tissues of the chest wall to fill the resulting cavity; patient recovered and was cured of the disease.

July 24, 1933 - Dr. W. F. Reinhoff Jr. performed the first successful lung removal operation due to cancer (extirpation of the lung) in Baltimore, Maryland.

May 10, 1935 - American surgeon John Gibbon successfully maintained the cardiac and respiratory function of a cat using his invention, a rotating blood-film oxygenator in the first heart-lung machine; May 6, 1953 - successfully performed the first open-heart operation on an 18-yr-old patient, Cecelia Bavolek, demonstrating that an artificial device can temporarily mimic the functions of the heart.

January 3, 1938 - Franklin Delano Roosevelt, an adult victim of polio, founds the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis, which he later renamed the March of Dimes Foundation; non-partisan association of health scientists and volunteers that helped fund research for a polio vaccine and assisted victims on the long path through physical rehabilitation; at a fundraiser, celebrity singer Eddie Cantor jokingly urged the public to send dimes to the president, coining the term "March of Dimes"; public took his appeal seriously, flooded the White House with 2,680,000 dimes and thousands of dollars in donations; 1941 - foundation provided funding for the development of an improved iron lung, which helped polio patients to breathe when muscle control of the lungs was lost; 1949 - March of Dimes appointed Dr. Jonas Salk to lead research for a polio vaccine; 1955 - Salk developed and tested the first successful polio vaccine.

April 10, 1938 - New York makes syphilis test mandatory in order to get a marriage license.

February 11, 1941 - Ernst Chain and Howard Walter Florey conduct the first injection of penicillin into a human test subject, Albert Alexander, 43, an Oxford policeman who had scratched his face on a rose bush; "within four days, there was a striking improvement... he was vastly better... with obvious resolution of the abscesses"; due to limited available penicillin, treatment stopped, the infection returned, and he died four weeks later; July 15, 1941 - Florey and Heatley presented freeze dried mold cultures of penicillin.

October 19, 1943 - Researchers at Rutgers University isolate  streptomycin, the first antibiotic remedy for tuberculosis.  

February 22, 1946 - Dr Selman Abraham Waksman announced discovery of streptomycin, first specific antibiotic effective against tuberculosis.

January 10, 1947 - Stanford University reported the isolation of the polio virus.

February 27, 1947 - The first closed-circuit broadcast of a surgical operation showed procedures to observers in classrooms. Dr. Alfred Blalock, at Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, MD, demonstrated two operations on the heart.

June 25, 1949 -Scientists in New York announced that the anti-tuberculosis drug Neomycin had been fully tested on animals; first isolated by the American microbiologist Selman Waksman from a strain of the bacterial species Streptomyces fradiae which produces it naturally; now used mainly topically (because of renal toxicity) in the treatment of skin and mucous membrane infections, wounds, and burns; defined term "antibiotic" in the medical context.

June 17, 1950 - Dr. Richard H. Lawler performed the first kidney transplant, in Chicago; 45-minute operation.

February 4, 1951 - Surgery begins to remove a huge ovarian cyst; became longest operation in medical history when it extends to four days; weight of the patient, Mrs. Gertrude Levandowski, dropped from original 616-lbs. to 308-lbs. after the operation.

February 15, 1951 - Brookhaven Graphite Research Reactor (BGRR) at the Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, NY became the first atomic reactor to be used in medical therapy; began the experimental treatment of brain cancer using neutrons from the reactor.

November 1951 - 51-year old female patient with signs of dementia admitted to the Frankfurt hospital where Dr. Alois Alzheimer worked; November 1906 - Alzheimer reported on this patient to meeting of German psychiatrists; title of his lecture was "Über eiene eigenartige Erkrankung der Hirnrinde" (On a peculiar disorder of the cerebral cortex); at the suggestion of Emil Kraepelin, pre-senile dementia was designated "Alzheimer's disease."

April 11, 1952 - A team led by Irving Cooper in Islip, NY successfully treated Parkinson's disease with surgery for the first time; operated on the brain of patient Raymond Walker to reduce tremor; ligated patient’s anterior choroidal artery (AChA), tremor and rigidity disappeared, motor and sensory functions preserved.

July 3, 1952 - Dr. Forest Dewey Dodrill at the Harper Hospital, Detroit, MI undertook the first surgical operation in the U.S. to expose the heart's mitral valve for a prolonged time; patient, a 41-year-old man, was provided with The Michigan Heart as a substitute for the lower left ventricle.

January 6, 1953 - Phenytoin (diphenylhydantoin), an anti-epileptic drug, was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration; 1908 - first synthesized by Heinrich Biltz, a German physician; one of the more popular anti-convulsive medications.

March 26, 1953 - American medical researcher Dr. Jonas Salk announces on a national radio show that he has successfully tested a vaccine against poliomyelitis, the virus that causes the crippling disease of polio ( "infant paralysis"); 1952 - 58,000 new cases reported in the United States, more than 3,000 died from the disease; 1894 - first major polio epidemic in the United States occurred in Vermont; 1921 - Franklin D. Roosevelt stricken with polio at the age of 39; 1948 - Salk awarded a grant to study the polio virus and develop a possible vaccine; April 1955 - announced that the vaccine was effective and safe, and a nationwide inoculation campaign began; 1957 - new polio cases dropped to under 6,000 (first year after the vaccine was widely available); 1962 - an oral vaccine developed by Polish-American researcher Albert Sabin became available.

May 6, 1953 - A heart-lung machine designed by Dr. John Heysham Gibbon was used to successfully complete the first open-heart surgery, on patient Cecelia Bavolek; demonstrated that an artificial device can temporarily mimic the functions of the heart. 1937 - built first experimental heart-lung machine or pump oxygenator that used two roller pumps and able to replace the heart and lung action of a cat for 25 minutes.

February 23, 1954 - The first mass inoculation of children against polio with the Salk vaccine began, in Pittsburgh.

April 26, 1954 - Nationwide test of Salk anti-polio vaccine begins; involved about 1.8 million children.

April 12, 1955 - Dr. Thomas Francis, Jr. announced that the Salk vaccine against polio worked and was "safe, effective and potent" (after a year-long field trial); former professor of Jonas Salk.

July 21, 1955 - Ian Donald made his first investigation of the use of ultrasound in medical diagnosis at the research department of the boiler makers Babock and Wilcox at Renfrew, Scotland; used an industrial ultrasonic metal flaw detector to image tumours from human organs; with other engineers, he developed the idea to for practical applications in the hospital where he worked, including the life-saving diagnosis of a huge, easily removable, ovarian cyst in a woman who had been diagnosed by others as having inoperable stomach cancer.

November 2, 1955 - American investigators Carlton Schwerdt and F.L. Schaffer crystallized the polio virus; first animal virus to be obtained in crystalline form; used to split the polio virus into infectious and non-infectious parts; laid the groundwork for the polio vaccine.

October 6, 1956 - Dr. Albert Sabin developed the oral Polio vaccine.

1958 - Rune Elmqvist invented pacemaker, designed to be implanted in a subcutaneous pouch in a patient suffering a cardiac disease; used only two transistors, was the size of a hockey puck; apparatus sent pulses to the cardiac muscle to establish normal and regular contractions; October 8, 1958 - Dr Åke Senning implanted the first internal heart pacemaker at the Karolinska Institute of Stockholm; worked for only three hours; patient, Arne Larsson, 40 years and 26 pacemakers later, was still enjoying a full, normal life at age 83.

October 29, 1958 - Dr. F. Mason Sones, Jr., a pediatric cardiologist at the Cleveland Clinic, performed the first coronary angiogram (diagnostic x-ray procedure designed to visualize blockages of the small nutrient arteries of the heart); technique discovered by accident - dye injected in coronary arteries of dog's hearts caused heart fibrillation, did not cause fibrillation on a patient; lower amounts of dye could be used safely.

June 6, 1961 - Chicago Heart Association perfected a system for the detection of heart defects in children.

June 28, 1961 - The American Medical Association backed the Sabin (live, oral ) polio vaccine over the Salk (killed) vaccine - long-lasting immunity, lower cost because sterile syringes and needles are not necessary.; cannot be used for patients with compromised immune systems because it is a live virus and can cause disease in these patients.

May 23, 1962 - Drs. Donald A. Malt and J. McKhann at the Massachusetts General Hospital replaced a 12-year-old boy's right arm; first transplant of a human limb.

April 18, 1963 - Dr. James Campbell performed the first human nerve transplant.

May 5, 1963 - Dr. Thomas E. Starlz performed world's first human liver transplant in a Denver, CO hospital. His patient, a 48-year-old man, survived for 22 days. He had also performed the world's first spleen transplant four months earlier in the same year.

July 18, 1963 - Dr. E. Stanley Crawford, at the Baylor University College of Medicine, Methodist Hospital, Houston TX made first implantation of an intrathoracic left artificial ventricle in a human being; original prototype is kept and exhibited at the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC. April 4, 1969 - Dr. Denton A. Cooley, at the Texas Heart Institute, Houston TX implanted first total artificial heart, used as a bridge to heart transplantation.

January 23, 1964 - Dr. James Hardy at the University of Mississippi completed the first animal to human heart transplant; heart of a chimpanzee (named Bino) into the chest of Boyd Rush (age 68) in a last-ditch effort to save the man's life because no human was heart available; too small to maintain independent circulation and Rush died after 90 minutes; 1963 - Hardy made the first human lung transplant; 1987 - made double-lung transplant that left the heart in place.

April 15, 1966 - Richard J Kuhn installed the first X-ray three-dimensional stereo fluoroscopic system for use in heart catherization at the University of Oregon Medical Center, Portland, Oregon; $30,000 machine developed by Joseph Quinn; three-dimensional image could be seen through a viewing mirror without the use of special glasses.

December 3, 1967 - Surgeons at Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town, South Africa, led by Dr. Christiaan Barnard, performed the first human heart transplant on Louis Washkansky, a South African grocer dying from chronic heart disease (received the transplant from a 25-year-old woman  fatally injured in a car accident); lived 18 days with the new heart; died from double pneumonia; late 1970s - many of Barnard's transplant patients were living up to five years with their new hearts; 1958 - American surgeon Norman Shumway achieved the first successful heart transplant, in a dog, at Stanford University.

May 3, 1968 - Dr. Denton Cooley of the Texas Heart Institute performed the first successful heart transplant in the United States on Everett Thomas (47), whose heart was damaged from rheumatic heart disease. The patient lived for 204 days with the heart donated from a 15-year-old girl. In 1969, Cooley became the first heart surgeon to implant an artificial heart in man.

August 3, 1968 - Dr. Michael E. DeBakey of Houston performed the first simultaneous multi-organ transplant, removing two kidneys, one lung and the heart from one donor and transferring them into four patients.

April 3, 1969 - Dr. Denton Cooley implanted a total artificial heart into a 2-month-old patient. Three days later, the patient received a heart transplant, but died of respiratory insufficiency only 14 hours later.

April 22, 1969 - The first human eye transplant was performed.

January 6, 1971 - Dr. Norman Shumway performed the first adult heart transplant in the U.S. at the Stanford Medical Center; 54-year-old patient, whose heart had been damaged by virus infection, survived for 15 days after the surgery.

March 29, 1971 - Development of a serum hepatitis vaccine for children announced.

August 25, 1973 - The first scan was made using CAT (Computer Assisted Tomography).

January 25, 1974 - Dr. Christian Barnard transplanted the first human heart without the removal of the old one.

February 6, 1976 - Swine flu claimed the life of 19-year-old Pvt. David Lewis, dead within 24-hours of feeling tired and weak but not sick enough to see military medics or skip a big training hike; killed by an influenza not seen since the Spanish flu of 1918-19 which took 500,000 American lives and 20 million worldwide; March 24, 1976 - following advice from medical experts, President Ford called for the U.S. to give swine flu vaccinations, a $135 million program of mass inoculation of the entire population; subsequent research showed it would probably have been much less deadly than the Spanish flu.

June 27, 1976 - A factory storekeeper in the Nzara township of Sudan became ill; five days later, he died, and the world’s first recorded Ebola virus epidemic began making its way through the area. By the time the epidemic was over, 284 cases were reported, with about half of the victims dying from the disease. October - World Health Organization arrived and helped to contain the epidemic. Once it became clear that isolating the victims would stop the spread, the epidemic ended almost as quickly as it had appeared. There have been a handful of other Ebola outbreaks in the years since 1976. Scientists still do not know what causes the disease to return or how to cure it.

July 23, 1976 - Members of the American Legion arrive in Philadelphia to celebrate the bicentennial of U.S. independence. About 4,000 delegates from the Pennsylvania chapter of the American Legion met at the Bellevue-Stratford Hotel in Philadelphia for a four-day gathering; July 27, 1976 - Air Force veteran Ray Brennan became the first person to die of so-called "Legionnaire's Disease" following an American Legion convention in Philadelphia; August 2 - 22 people were dead and hundreds connected to the gathering were experiencing pneumonia-like symptoms. Their ailment would come to be known as Legionnaires’ disease. Took four months to identify the culprit. Joseph McDade, a CDC research microbiologist, finally isolated the bacteria that caused the disease: an aquatic microorganism, found in watery places like pipes and air conditioning units, which caused a low fever and mild cough in most people who were exposed to it, but could affect other people in far worse ways. In a small, but significant, minority of people, vomiting, diarrhea and pneumonia developed, following an incubation period of between two and 10 days. Smokers, very old people and those suffering from pulmonary disease were most at risk.

October 13, 1976 - Dr. F.A. Murphy of the C.D.C. obtained the first electron micrograph of an Ebola viral particle.

January 18, 1977 - The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) isolate the cause of Legionnaire's disease. 

December 1, 1977 - Scientists at the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) describe isolation of the bacterium Legionella pneumophila, the cause of an outbreak of Legionnaire's Disease in Philadelphia in 1976, in a scientific paper published in The New England Journal of Medicine; name of the illness was changed to legionellosis.

September 7, 1978 - Scientists produce insulin through genetic engineering.

November 20, 1979- Artificial blood was first used in a Jehovah's Witness patient by transfusion at the University of Minnesota Hospital (refused a transfusion of real blood because of his religious beliefs).

May 8, 1980 - World Health Organization announced smallpox had been eradicated.

April 23, 1981 - Artificial skin was first transplanted in the U.S. on patients at Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, developed by Ioannis V. Yannas and a research team at MIT; combination of cowhide, shark cartilage and plastic, makes possible the treatment of burn patients whose injuries might otherwise be fatal.

June 5, 1981 - Dr. Michael Gottlieb, assistant professor of medicine at UCLA, described an epidemic disease, later to be named as AIDS, in the newsletter of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control; first notice published on AIDS (not yet given that name).

June 18, 1981 - Vaccine to prevent hoof and mouth disease announced; first genetically engineered vaccine; first effective subunit vaccine for any animal or human disease using gene splicing.

December 2, 1982 - Dr. William DeVries, in cooperation with the inventor Dr. Robert Jarvic, implant world's first permanent artificial heart, the Jarvik-7; patient lived 112 days; of the next four implants, longest survivor lived 620 days.

April 23, 1984 - AIDS-virus identified, acquired immune deficiency syndrome.

March 2, 1985 - The government approved a screening test for AIDS that detected antibodies to the virus, allowing possibly contaminated blood to be excluded from the blood supply. 

December 19, 1985 - Mary Lund of Minnesota became the first woman to receive a Jarvik VII artificial heart; received a human heart transplant 45 days later; survived until October 1986. 

August 6, 1986 - William J. Schroeder of Jasper, Ind., the world's longest-surviving recipient of a permanent artificial heart, died after living 620 days with the Jarvik-7 man-made pump.

March 20, 1987 - The Food and Drug Administration approved the sale of AZT, a drug shown to prolong the lives of some AIDS patients.

May 11, 1987 - Doctors in Baltimore transplanted the heart and lungs of an auto accident victim to a patient who gave up his own heart to a second recipient. Clinton House, nation's first living heart donor, died 14 months later.

November 12, 1987 - The American Medical Association issued a policy statement saying it was unethical for a doctor to refuse to treat someone solely because that person has AIDS or is HIV-positive.

November 27, 1989 - Dr. Christoph Broelsch's team of doctors at the University of Chicago Hospitals implanted part of a woman's liver in her 21-month-old daughter in the world's first successful living donor liver transplant; 1985 - also performed the first segmental transplant in the United States; 1988 - performed the first split-liver transplant (one donor, two recipients) in the U.S., developed the technique for transplantation from a living donor.

July 26, 1990 - The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that a young woman, later identified as Kimberly Bergalis, had been infected with the AIDS virus, apparently by her dentist.

October 25, 1990 - Dr. Vaughn A. Starnes, Stanford University Medical Center performed the first transplant operation of a lung from a live donor to a recipient; a mother was the living donor to her 12-year-old daughter.

June 28, 1992 - Dr. John Fung with colleagues Drs. Andreas Tzakis and Satoru Todo performed the transplant operation on a 35-year-old man at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center; world's first recipient of a baboon liver transplant (field of xenotransplantation, or cross-species transplantation); patient was dying from hepatitis B (died from a brain hemorrhage 71 days after the historic surgery); January 10, 1993 - second xenotransplant operation made on a 62-year-old man who lived 26 days with the baboon’s liver.

January 28, 1993 - A daughter received lung material from both her mother and father to treat the effects of cystic fibrosis (first in the world double-lobar living related transplant); performed in Los Angeles by Dr. Starnes at USC University Hospital.

March 23, 1993 - Researchers announced they had identified the renegade gene that causes Huntington's disease.

March 25, 1993 - Two articles in Nature solved a mystery in the development of AIDS: why do many patients having shown an outbreak of virus particles in the blood then go up to ten years without their presence in the blood, only to show them again years later. The published reports point to the lymph tissue throughout the whole body that acts as a reservoir hiding the virus during the latent period. The significance of the finding is that to be effective, any vaccine must act to block the virus before it takes hold in the lymph system.

May 15, 1993 - Woman in Paris was surgically given two new lungs, both of which were cut from the single lung of a large man. Only previously attempted in animal trials, this was the first human to receive such surgery. The procedure is of particular interest for children, for whom finding donor lungs of the correct size is a problem.

August 32, 1993 - Researchers at the National Institutes of Health announced a skin patch test for Alzheimer's; distinguished between incurable Alzheimer's disease and other more treatable forms of mental impairment.

October 14, 1993 - Dr. Michael J. Walsh of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute announced that cystic fibrosis can be corrected by gene therapy.

May 9, 1994 - Kinshasa, the capital of Zaire, was placed under quarantine after an outbreak of the Ebola virus.

October 3, 1994 - The Food and Drug Administration approved the Left Ventricular Assist Device, which helps failing hearts continue to function.

January 30, 1995 - U.S. National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute in Washington announced the drug hydroxyurea, the first effective treatment for sickle-cell anemia (not a new drug, but it was a new application for a drug previously approved by the FDA for other medical conditions).

March 17, 1995 - U.S. approves first chicken pox vaccine, Varivax by Merck.

May 11, 1995 - Scientists confirmed that Ebola, one of the world's deadliest viruses, had broken out in Zaire, in the city of Kikwit; killed about 50, including three Italian nuns who had cared for victims.

April 18, 1997 - Researchers at the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, Cambridge, MA reported that the AIDS virus penetrates cells by a harpoon-like mechanism.

May 19, 1997 - A three-year-old boy dies of avian influenza in Hong Kong; hospitalized six days earlier with severe coughing and fever. He had been around chickens that were found to be infected with avian influenza. By the time the outbreak was controlled, six people were dead and 1.6 million domestic fowl were destroyed. Virus identified as flu type A(H5N1). December 28 - authorities kill and bury about 1.6 million animals to prevent further spread of the disease. 1997 - 2005  - H5N1 virus mutated, became extraordinarily lethal, responsible for 62 more human fatalities in Asia; more than 140 million birds killed, portion of which were intentionally destroyed in an effort to contain it. Fall  2005 - virus spread suddenly to Europe, sparked concerns that if the virus were to mutate to a form communicable between humans, a devastating pandemic would result. Nations, in concert with the World Health Organization, scrambled to assemble viable disaster and containment plans and amass stockpiles of antiviral drugs. Virus was found in birds in Africa, but has only been spread to humans who came into close contact the blood, bodily fluid or droppings of infected chickens.

July 16, 1998 - scientists at the University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston and the Institute for Genomic Research in Rockville, MD mapped the entire genetic pattern of the syphilis bacterium which may lead to a new vaccine that will prevent infection by the microbe, and, eventually, eradication of a sexually transmitted disease that has been a worldwide scourge for 500 year.

March 17, 1999 - A panel of medical experts concluded that marijuana has medical benefits for people suffering from cancer and AIDS.

July 2, 2001 - Doctors at Jewish Hospital in Louisville implant the AbioCor heart replacement, a fully self-contained artificial heart (no wires or tubes that stick out of the chest and connect to a big compressor) in the body of Robert Tools; battery-powered, plastic-and-titanium device the size of a softball. He lived 151 days with the device.

December 23, 2002- The government announced the first suspected case of mad cow disease in United States. (It was later confirmed).

July 5, 2003 - World Health Organization (WHO) announces that all person-to-person transmission of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) has ceased. In the previous eight months, the disease had killed about 775 people in 29 countries and exposed the dangers of globalization in the context of public health. In spite of WHO’s announcement, a new case was diagnosed in China in January 2004, and four more diagnoses followed that April. The first cases of SARS—then believed to be pneumonia—likely appeared in China’s Guangdong province in November 2002. On February 15, 2003 - China reported 305 cases of atypical pneumonia, which was later found to be SARS.

November 27, 2005 - Doctors in France performed the world's first partial face transplant on a woman disfigured by a dog bite; Isabelle Dinoire received the lips, nose and chin of a brain-dead woman in a 15-hour operation.

September 4, 2006 - Vaccine for a type of meningitis was offered for the first time in Great Britain for all babies at two, four and 13 months as part of the national childhood immunization program. The vaccine is designed for protection against pneumococcal disease which causes meningitis and septicaemia, a very serious infection, with a death rate of 20 per cent. Of children that survive infection, a quarter suffer life-long brain damage, deafness and epilepsy. Babies are particularly vulnerable. The Wyeth pharmaceuticals company, the vaccine supplier, reported that its use in America had shown a significant reduction in cases. An estimated 50 babies a year are expected to be protected from the devastating after-effects of pneumococcal meningitis.

January 2008 - The American Diabetes Association reported that Diabetes costs Americans $174 billion annually, an increase of 32%since 2002 (study commissioned by American Diabetes Association); study revealed that the direct economic costs associated with diabetes have reached unprecedented levels: 1) medical expenditures of care are estimated to be $116 billion (disproportionate percentage of the costs resulting from treatment and hospitalization of people with diabetes-related complications), 2) 1 out of every 5 health care dollars is spent caring for someone with diagnosed diabetes.

(ADD), Edward M. Hallowell and John J. Ratey (1994). Driven to Distraction. (New York, NY: Pantheon, 319 p.). Instructor at Harvard Medical School and Director of the Hallowell Center for Cognitive and Emotional Health in Sudbury, Massachusetts; Associate Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder--Popular works; Attention-deficit disorder in adults--Popular works. What appears to be matter of self-discipline is for many a neurological problem; two doctors reveal impact precise diagnosis and treatment can have.

(ADD), Gabor Mate (1999). Scattered Minds: A New Look at the Origins and Healing of Attention Deficit Disorder. (Toronto, ON: Vintage Canada, 348 p.). Vancouver physician. Mate, Gabor--Mental health; Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder; Attention-deficit disorder in adults; Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder--Patients--Canada--Biography. Myth of ADD as a genetically based illness, offers real hope and advice for children and adults who live with this disorder.

(ADD), Catherine A. Corman and Edward M. Hallowell (2006). Positively ADD: Real Success Stories To Inspire Your Dreams. (New York, NY: Walker. Attention-deficit-disordered adults--Interviews.

(ADD), Edward M. Hallowell, John J. Ratey (2006). Delivered from Distraction: Getting the Most Out of Life with Attention Deficit Disorder. (New York, NY: Ballantine Books, 379 p.). Instructor at Harvard Medical School and Director of the Hallowell Center for Cognitive and Emotional Health in Sudbury, Massachusetts; Associate Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder--Popular works; Attention-deficit disorder in adults--Popular works. Comprehensive and entirely up-to-date guide to living a successful life with ADD.

(ADD), Blake E.S. Taylor (2007). ADHD and Me: What I Learned from Lighting Fires at the Dinner Table. (Oakland, CA: New Harbinger Publications. Taylor, Blake E. S.--Mental health; Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder--Patients--California--Biography.

(AIDS), David Black (1986). The Plague Years: A Chronicle of AIDS, the Epidemic of Our Times. (New York, NY: Simon & Schuster, 224 p.). AIDS (Disease)--Social aspects; AIDS (Disease)--Popular works; Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome--history; Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome--occurrence.

(AIDS), Jacob Levenson (2004). The Secret Epidemic: The Story of AIDS and Black America. (New York, NY: Pantheon Books, 307 p.). AIDS (Disease)--United States; African Americans--Diseases. Describes how AIDS has become one of the leading causes of death among young black men and women in the U.S.

(AIDS), Jonny Steinberg (2008). Sizwe’s Test: A Young Man’s Journey Through Africa’s AIDS Epidemic. (New York, NY: Simon & Schuster, 349 p.). Magdala, Sizwe--Health; AIDS (Disease)--South Africa.

(ALS), Jonathan Eig (2005). Luckiest Man: The Life and Death of Lou Gehrig. (New York, NY: Simon & Schuster, 432 p.). Special Correspondent (Wall Street Journal). Gehrig, Lou, 1903-1941; Baseball players--United States--Biography; Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis--Patients--United States--Biograph.  Gehrig was afflicted with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) much earlier than anyone believed.

(ALS), Darcy Wakefield; foreword by Jonathan Eig (2005). I Remember Running: The Year I Got Everything I Ever Wanted--and ALS. (New York, NY: Marlowe & Co., 177 p.). Wakefield, Darcy, 1969-2005 --Health; Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis--Patients--Biography. Darcy Wakefield was a single, 33-year-old, athletic, workaholic English professor, a vegetarian who had never had a serious health problem or injury. Then she was diagnosed with ALS, and her world turned upside down.

(ALS), Ulla-Carin Lindquist ; translated by Margaret Myers (2006). Rowing Without Oars: A Memoir of Living and Dying. (New York, NY: Viking, 197 p.). Swedish Television Reporter. Lindquist, Ulla-Carin, d. 2004; Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis--Patients--Biography. Author diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS, aka Lou Gehrig's disease) on her 50th birthday.

(Alzheimers), John Bayley (1998). Elegy for Iris. (New York, NY: St. Martin's Press, 275 p.). British Literary Critic. Murdoch, Iris--Marriage; Bayley, John, 1925- --Marriage; University of Oxford--Biography; Women novelists, English--20th century--Biography; Women philosophers--Great Britain--Biography; College teachers--Great Britain--Biography; Married people--Great Britain--Biography; Alzheimer's disease--Patients--Biography; Critics--Great Britain--Biography. 

--- (1999). Iris and Her Friends: A Memoir of Memory and Desire. (New York, NY: Norton, 275 p.). Murdoch, Iris--Marriage; Bayley, John, 1925- --Marriage; University of Oxford--Biography; Novelists, English--20th century--Biography; Philosophers--Great Britain--Biography; College teachers--Great Britain--Biography; Married people--Great Britain--Biography; Alzheimer's disease--Patients--Biography; Critics--Great Britain--Biography. 

(Alzheimers), Charles Pierce (2000). Hard to Forget: An Alzheimer's Story or In the Country of My Disease. (New York, NY: Random House, 213 p.). Writer at Large for Esquire. Alzheimer's disease; Alzheimer's disease--Patients--Biography. Memoir of an illness that destroys memory.   

(Alzheimer's), Joanne Parrent (2001). Courage To Care: A Caregiver's Guide Through Each Stage of Alzheimer's. (Indianapolis, IN: Alpha Books, 343 p.). Alzheimer's disease--Patients--Home care; Alzheimer's disease--Patients--Family relationships; Caregivers; Caregivers--Family relationships.

(Alzheimer's), David Shenk (2001). The Forgetting: Alzheimer's, Portrait of an Epidemic. (New York, NY: Doubleday, 290 p.). Alzheimer's disease.

(Alzheimer's), Joanne Koenig Coste (2003). Learning To Speak Alzheimer's: A Groundbreaking Approach for Everyone Dealing with the Disease. (Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin, 240 p.). Alzheimer's disease--Patients--Care--Popular works; Alzheimer's disease--Patients--Rehabilitation--Popular works; Caregivers--Popular works.  

(Aneurysm), Jimmy Breslin (1996). I Want To Thank My Brain for Remembering Me: A Memoir. (Boston, MA: Little, Brown, 219 p.). pulitzer-Prize Winning Newspaper Columnist. Breslin, Jimmy; Journalists--New York (State)--Biography. 

(Arthritis-Rheumatoid), Mary Felstiner (2005). Out of Joint: A Private & Public Story of Arthritis. (Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press, 218 p.). Professor of History (San Francisco State University). Felstiner, Mary Lowenthal, 1941 --Health; Rheumatoid arthritis--Patients--Biography. Decades-long struggle with rheumatoid arthritis (RA).

(Asperger's Syndrome), Malcolm Johnson (2004). Managing with Asperger Syndrome. (Philadelphia, PA: Jessica Kingsley. Johnson, Malcolm, 1967- --Mental health; Asperger's syndrome--Patients--Biography; Asperger's syndrome--Patients--Employment; Asperger's syndrome--Patients--Life skills guides; Executives--Mental health; Psychology, Industrial. 

(Asperger's Syndrome), Susan Rubinyi (2006). Natural Genius: The Gifts of Asperger’s Syndrome. (Philadelphia, PA: Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 120 p.). Rubinyi, Susan, 1946- ; Parents of autistic children--United States--Biography; Asperger’s syndrome in children.

(Asperger's syndrome), John Elder Robison (2007). Look Me in the Eye: My Life with Asperger’s. (New York, NY: Crown Publishers, 304 p.). Older brother of Augusten Burroughs. Robison, John Elder--Mental health; Asperger’s syndrome--Patients--United States--Biography. Older brother of Augusten Burroughs (nee Christopher Robison), author of the megaselling "Running With Scissors". Growing up with Asperger’s at a time when the diagnosis simply didn’t exist.

(Autism), Judith H. Cohen, Ph.D (2005). Succeeding With Autism: Hear My Voice. (Philadelphia, PA: Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 240 p.). Autism; Autism--Patients--Biography. Young math and computer science teacher successfully manages his autism.

(Autism), Rachel Pinney and Mimi Schlachter (1983). Bobby: Breakthrough of a Special Child. (New York, NY: St. Martin's/Marek, 250 p.). Bobby, 1972- ; Autistic children--United States--Biography; Autism in children--Treatment.

(Autism), Tito Rajarshi Mukhopadhyay (2003). The Mind Tree: A Miraculous Child Breaks the Silence of Autism. (New York, NY: Arcade Pub., 212 p.). Autistic children--Literary collections; Children's writings, American.

(Autism), Paul Collins (2004). Not Even Wrong: Adventures in Autism. (New York, NY: Bloomsbury, 245 p.). Autism in children; Autistic children--Rehabilitation; Caregivers.

(Autism), Judith H. Cohen, Ph.D (2005). Succeeding With Autism: Hear My Voice. (Philadelphia, PA: Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 240 p.). Autism; Autism--Patients--Biography. Young math and computer science teacher who successfully manages his autism.

(Autism), Temple Grandin and Catherine Johnson (2005). Animals in Translation: Using the Mysteries of Autism To Decode Animal Behavior. (New York, NY: Scribner, 356 p.). Animal behavior; Autism.

(Autism), Portia Iversen (2006). Strange Son: Two Mothers, Two Sons, and the Quest To Unlock the Hidden World of Autism. (New York, NY: Riverhead Books, 397 p.). Iversen, Portia--Family; Mukhopadhyay, Soma--Family; Autism in children--Popular works; Autistic children--Care; Autistic children--Family relationships. Two mothers from opposite sides of the world united in an effort to communicate with their severely autistic sons; discovered breakthroughs that challenged prevailing theories about autism; redefined how autism-and autistic people-should be treated; answered some of autism's most baffling questions, prompted new research. 

(Autism), Kamran Nazeer (2006). Send in the Idiots: Stories from the Other Side of Autism. (New York, NY: Bloomsbury, 224 p.). Policy Adviser in Whitehall. Autism. Now a policy adviser in England, Author visits four of his old 'autistic' classmates to find out the kind of lives that they are living now, how much they’ve been able to overcome—and what remains missing. 

(Autism), Daniel Tammet (2007). Born on a Blue Day: The Gift of an Extraordinary Mind. (New York, NY: Free Press, 240 p.). Tammet, Daniel, 1979- --Mental health; Autism--Patients--England--Biography; Savants (Savant syndrome)--England--Biography. 27-year-old British autistic savant with Asperger's syndrome; highly functional autistic individual, something of a genius - terrific chess player, learned Icelandic in a week,  recited number pi up to 22,514th digit, broke European record.

(Avian influenza), Mike Davis (2005). The Monster at Our Door: The Global Threat of Avian Flu. (New York, NY: New Press, 212 p.). Avian influenza--Popular works.

(Bipolar Disorderl), Pete Earley (2006). Crazy: A Father’s Search Through America’s Mental Health Madness. (New York, NY: Putnam, 372 p.). Former Reporter (Washington Post). Mentally ill--Biography; Mental illness--Case studies; Mentally ill--Family relationships; Mental illness; Parent and child; Mentally Ill Persons--Biography; Mental Disorders; Parent-Child Relations. Two stories: 1) author's  son is mentally ill; 2) what he learned during yearlong investigation inside the Miami-Dade County jail.

(Black Death), Colin Platt (1996). King Death: The Black Death and Its Aftermath in Late-Medieval England. (Toronto, ON: University of Toronto Press, 262 p.). Black Death--Social aspects--England; Black Death--England--History; Social history--Medieval, 500-1500; Medicine, Medieval; England--Social conditions--1066-1485.

(Black Death), Norman F. Cantor (2001). In the Wake of the Plague: The Black Death and the World It Made. (New York, NY: Free Press, 245 p.). Retired Professor Emeritus of History, Sociology and Comparative Literature (NYU). Black Death--History.

(Black Death), Samuel K. Cohn, Jr. (2002). The Black Death Transformed: Disease and Culture in Early Renaissance Europe. (New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 318 p.). Black Death--Europe; Black Death--Etiology; Virus diseases--Europe--History--To 1500; Plague--history--Europe; Plague--etiology--Europe; Virus Diseases--history--Europe. 

(Black Death), Ole J. Benedictow (2004). The Black Death, 1346-1353: The Complete History. (Rochester, NY: Boydell Press, 433 p.). Professor of History (University of Oslo). Black Death--History; Plague--History; Diseases and history; Medicine, Medieval. 

(Black Death), Stuart J. Borsch (2005). The Black Death in Egypt and England: A Comparative Study. (Austin, TX: University of Texas Press, 195 p.). Assistant Professor of History (Assumption College in Worcester, MA). Black Death--Egypt; Black Death--England. 

(Black Death), John Kelly (2005). The Great Mortality: An Intimate History of the Black Death, the Most Devastating Plague of All Time. (New York, NY: HarperCollins, 384 p.). Black Death--History. Account of the worst natural disaster in European history.

(Blood Disorder), Rosemary Breslin (1997). Not Exactly What I Had in Mind: An Incurable Love Story. (New York, NY: Villard, 229 p.). Breslin, Rosemary; Patients--United States--Biography; Women--United States--Biography. 

(Cancer), Anatole Broyard; compiled and edited by Alexandra Broyard ; foreword by Oliver Sacks. (1992). Intoxicated by My Illness: And Other Writings on Life and Death. (New York, NY: Clarkson Potter, 135 p.). Broyard, Anatole--Health; Critics--United States--Biography; Cancer--Patients--United States--Biography. 

(Cancer), Steven A. Rosenberg and John M. Barry (1992). The Transformed Cell: Unlocking the Mysteries of Cancer. (New York, NY: Putnam, 353 P.). Rosenberg, Steven A.; Oncologists--United States--Biography; Cancer--Research.

(Cancer), Linda Blachman (2006). Another Morning: Voices of Truth and Hope from Mothers with Cancer. (Emeryville, CA: Seal Press, 250 p.). Public Health Educator Specializing in Maternal-Child Health. Cancer in women--Psychological aspects; Cancer--Patients--Family relationships; Mothers--Mental health; Self-help groups. Ordinary women coping with every mother’s nightmare: a cancer diagnosis while raising children.

(Cancer), Edited by Jackson Hunsicker (2006). Turning Heads: Portraits of Grace, Inspiration, and Possibilities. (Sherman Oaks, CA: Press On Regardless, 144 p.). Cancer--Patients--Portraits; Cancer--Patients--Biography; Baldness--Pictorial works. Inspiring photographs of women who've become bald from chemotherapy (shot by 59 leading photographers).

(Cancer), Devra Davis (2007). The Secret History of the War on Cancer. (New York, NY: Basic Books, 505 p.). Head of Centre on Environmental Oncology at the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute. Cancer research. 40-year-long medical war into a questionable $70-billion charade.

(Cancer), John E. McNamara (2007). Stem Cells Cancer and Me. (Bloomington, IN: AuthorHouse, 532 p.). Multiple Myeolma; stem cell transplants. Diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma in 2001; underwent bone marrow stem-cell transplant in June 2002; five year journey and the choice that saved my life.

(Cancer), Adam Wishart (2007). One in Three: A Son’s Journey into the History and Science of Cancer. (New York, NY: Grove Press, 320 p.). Writer, Documentary Director. Cancer--History; Cancer--Patients--Biography; Fathers and sons. One in three of us will contract cancer in our life times. Personal, journalistic take on the history of cancer and the encouraging story of science’s progress in changing the outlook on cancer from a disease that we die from to one that we live with.

(Cancer-Breast), Suzanne Strempek Shea (2002). Songs from a Lead-Lined Room: Notes-High and Low-from My Journey Through Breast Cancer and Radiation. (Boston, MA: Beacon Press, 204 p.). Shea, Suzanne Strempek--Health; Breast--Cancer--Patients--United States--Biography. 

(Cancer), Linda Blachman (2006). Another Morning: Voices of Truth and Hope from Mothers with Cancer. (Emeryville, CA: Seal Press, 250 p.). Cancer in women--Psychological aspects; Cancer--Patients--Family relationships; Mothers--Mental health; Self-help groups. Ordinary women coping with every mother’s nightmare: a cancer diagnosis while raising children.

(Cancer-Breast), Barbara Clark (2006). The Fight of My Life: The Inspiring Story of a Mother's Fight Against Breast Cancer. (London, UK: Hodder & Stoughton Ltd., 304 p.). Former Nurse and Mother of Three Children. Cancer in women--Psychological aspects; Cancer--Treatment--Case studies. February 2005 - Diagnosed with an aggressive form of breast cancer; fought NHS and government to win right to be prescribed the drug on the NHS, not just for herself but for thousands of other women. 

(Cancer-Breast), Maris Acocella Marchetto (2006). Cancer Vixen: A True Story. (New York, NY: Knopf, 212 p.). Cartoonist for The New Yorker and Glamour. Marchetto, Marisa Acocella--Health--Comic books, strips, etc.; Breast--Cancer--Patients--New York (State)--New York--Biography--Comic books, strips, etc. 11-month, ultimately triumphant bout with breast cancer – from diagnosis to cure, and every challenging step in between. 

(Cancer-Breast), Julie K. Silver (2006). After Cancer Treatment: Heal Faster, Better, Stronger. (Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 288 p.). Medical Director, one of Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital's Outpatient Centers (Framingham, MA). Cancer--Popular works; Cancer--Psychological aspects; Cancer--Patients--Rehabilitation.; Self-care, Health. At age 38, from physician at Harvard Medical School, life as mother, wife, award-winning writer - to role of cancer patient. 

(Cancer-Breast), Jane And Mike Tomlinson (2005). The Luxury of Time. (London, UK: Simon & Schuster, 352 p.). Breast Cancer; Cancer--treatment. Jane Tomlinson, a mother of three from Leeds, was first diagnosed with breast cancer when she was 26 - this is how she handled it. 

(Cancer-Breast), Laurie Williams (2006). Just Gus: A Rescued Dog and the Woman He Loved. (New York, NY: McWitty Press, 80 p.). Sister of Cancer patient. Dog owners; Social behavior in animals; Breast cancer patients. How much one dog did to make a 30 year-old dying woman happy.

(Cancer-Lung), Margie Levine (2001). Surviving Cancer: One Woman’s Story and Her Inspiring Program for Anyone Facing a Cancer Diagnosis. (New York, NY: Broadway Books, 234 p.). Head of Boston Institute of Noetic Science. Levine, Margie, 1957- --Health; Lungs--Cancer--Patients--United States--Biography; Mesothelioma--Patients--United States--Biography; Cancer--Alternative treatment. Diagnosed with a deadly asbestos-related lung cancer, predicted she had only six months to live - eleven years later, her mind/body regimen has evolved into a prescription for survival.

(Cancer-Lung), Karen Karbo (2003). The Stuff of Life: A Daughter’s Memoir. (New York, NY: Bloomsbury, 224 p.). Karbo, Dick; Karbo, Karen; Lungs--Cancer--Patients--United States--Biography; Lungs--Cancer--Patients--Family relationships. 

(Cancer-Lung), Joseph Sacco (2006). On His Own Terms: A Doctor, His Father, and the Myth of the "Good Death". (Ashland, OR: Caveat Press, 150 p.). Asstistant Professor of Family and Social Medicine (Albert Einstein College of Medicine). Sacco, Joseph, 1920- ; Sacco, Joseph; Lungs--Cancer--Patients--California--Biography; Fathers and sons--California--Biography; Terminal care. Caretakers are responsible for encouraging the dying in their own path, rather than to impose any preconceptions.

(Cancer-Stomach), Laurence Shames and Peter Barton (2003). Not Fade Away: A Short Life Well Lived. (Emmaus, PA: Rodale Press, 224 p.). Barton - Harvard MBA, ERxecutive of TCI/Liberty Communications. Barton, Peter, 1951-2002 --Health; Stomach--Cancer--Patients--Colorado--Biography. 

(Cerebrovascular disease), Jean-Dominique Bauby; translated from the French by Jeremy Leggatt (1997). The Diving Bell and the Butterfly: A Memoir of Life in Death. (New York, NY: Knopf, 131 p.). Bauby, Jean-Dominique, 1952- --Health; Cerebrovascular disease--Patients--France--Biography; Periodical editors--France--Biography. Stroke (44) left author with condition known as locked-in syndrome; body which had all but stopped working: only his left eye functioned, allowed him to see and, by blinking it, to make clear that his mind was unimpaired. Soon expressed himself in rich detail: dictated a word at a time, blinked to select each letter as alphabet was recited to him slowly, over and over again - .how he composed this           book. 

(Cholera), Steven Johnson (2006). Ghost Map: The Story of London’s Deadliest Epidemic-- and How It Changed the Way We Think About Disease, Cities, Science, and the Modern World. (New York, NY: Riverhead Books, 320 p.). Cholera--England--London--History--19th century. 1854 - worst cholera outbreak in Victorian London; Dr. John Snow's solution revolutionized the way we think about disease, cities, science, and the modern world. 

(Cholera), Sandra Hempel (2006). The Strange Case of the Broad Street Pump: John Snow and the Mystery of Cholera. (London, UK: Granta, 304 p.). Snow, John, 1813-1858; Snow, John, 1813-1858; Cholera--Great Britain--History--19th century; Cholera--history--Great Britain; Disease Outbreaks--history--Great Britain; Cholera--epidemiology--Great Britain; History, 19th Century--Great Britain; Physicians--Great Britain--Biography. 

(Coronary Artery Bypass), Joseph A. Amato (2000). Bypass: A Memoir. (West Lafayette, IN: Purdue University Press, 227 p.). Dean of Rural and Regional Studies (Southwest State University, Marshall, MN). Amato, Joseph Anthony--Health; Coronary artery bypass--Patients--United States--Biography.

(CP), Shelly Brady; foreword by William H. Macy (2002). Ten Things I Learned from Bill Porter. (Novato, CA: New World Library, 174 p.). Porter, Bill, 1932- --Health; Cerebral palsy--Patients--United States--Biography; Door-to-door selling--United States--Biography.

(Crohn's), Cliff Kalibjian (2003). Straight from the Gut: Living with Crohn's Disease and Ulcerative Colitis. (Sebastopol, CA: O'Reilly, 432 p.). Ulcerative colitis--Popular works; Crohn's disease--Popular works.

(Cystic Fibrosis), Isabel Stenzel Byrnes and Anabel Stenzel (2007). The Power of Two: A Twin Triumph over Cystic Fibrosis. (Columbia, MO: University of Missouri Press. Stenzel Byrnes, Isabel, 1972- --Health; Stenzel, Anabel, 1972- --Health; Cystic fibrosis--Patients--United States--Biography; Cystic fibrosis--Patients--United States--Family relationships; Twins--United States--Biography. Struggle to live normal lives, their interdependence, day-to-day health care, the impact of chronic illness on marriage and family, and the importance of a support network to continuing survival.

(Diabetes), Andie Dominick (1998). Needles: A Memoir of Growing Up with Diabetes. (New York, NY: Scribner, 220 p.). Dominick, Andie--Health; Diabetes in children--Patients--United States--Biography. Insulin dependent condition (only 5-10% of nation's 16 million diabetics).

(Diabetes), Deb Butterfield with a foreword by David E.R. Sutherland (1999). Showdown with Diabetes. (New York, NY: Norton, 264 p.). Butterfield, Deb--Health; Diabetes--Patients--United States--Biography; Pancreas--Transplantation--Patients--United States--Biography; Kidneys--Transplantation--Patients--United States--Biography; Diabetes--Treatment. 

(Diabetes), Lisa Roney (2000). Sweet Invisible Body: Reflections on Life with Diabetes. (New York, NY: Holt, 297 p.). Roney, Lisa--Health; Diabetics--United States--Biography.

(Diphtheria), Evelynn Maxine Hammonds (1999). Childhood's Deadly Scourge: The Campaign To Control Diphtheria in New York City, 1880-1930. (Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 299 p.). Diphtheria--New York (State)--New Y