How do new diseases become part of the public health agenda? Emerging Illnesses and Society brings together historians, sociologists, epidemiologists, public health experts, and others to explore this vital issue. Contributors describe the processes by which patients' groups interact with medical researchers, public health institutions, and the media to identify and address previously unknown illnesses, including multiple sclerosis, Tourette syndrome, AIDS, lead poisoning, Lyme disease, and hepatitis C. The introductory chapter develops a general theoretical model of the social process of "emerging"illness, identifying critical epidemiologic, social and political factors that shape different trajectories toward the construction of public health priorities. Through case studies of individual diseases and analyses of public awareness campaigns and institutional responses, this timely volume provides important insights into the medical, social, and economic factors that determine why some illnesses receive more attention and funding than others.

Contributors: Deborah Barrett, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; Steven Epstein, University of California, San Diego; Phyllis Freeman, University of Massachusetts, Boston; Diane E. Goldstein, Memorial University of Newfoundland; Peter J. Krause, University of Connecticut School of Medicine; Howard I. Kushner, Emory University; Lawrence D. Mass, Beth Israel Medical Center, New York; Michelle Murphy, University of Toronto; Lydia Ogden, Global AIDS Program, CDCR; Sandy Smith-Nonini, Elon University; Ellen Griffith Spears, Southern Regional Council; Andrew Spielman, Harvard School of Public Health; Colin Talley, University of California San Francisco; Sam R. Telford III, Harvard School of Public Health; Christian Warren, New York Academy of Medicine.

Randall M. Packard is director of the Institute for the History of Medicine at the Johns Hopkins University. Peter J. Brown is co-director of the Center for Health, Culture and Society at Emory University. Ruth L. Berkelman, is a clinician and professor of epidemiology at the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University. Howard Frumkin is chair of the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health at the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University.