Soap and Water and Common Sense

In the spirit of bestsellers such as Guns, Germs, and Steel, The Coming Plague, and The Ghost Map, Dr. Bonnie Henry provides an eye-opening account of what ails us.

As a physician who has spent the better part of the last two decades chasing bugs all over the world -- from Ebola in Uganda, to polio in Pakistan, to SARS in Toronto, to the H1N1 influenza outbreak in Mexico -- Dr. Bonnie Henry, a leading epidemiologist (virus hunter) and public-health doctor, offers three simple rules to live by: clean your hands, cover your mouth when you cough, and stay at home when you have a fever. It all boils down to basic hygiene.