Eras in epidemiology : the evolution of ideas / Mervyn Susser and Zena Stein.

Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press, 2009.

xiv, 352 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm

The scope and purposes of epidemiology -- The relation of concepts to causes in epidemiology -- The concept of environment -- Numeracy in epidemiology -- The French enlightenment, epidemiology and public health -- The British sanitary movement : Edwin Chadwick -- Vital statistics : William Farr and the creation of a system -- Contagion, infection, and the idea of specific agents -- Origins of a national public health system -- Germ theory, infection, and bacteriology -- The concept of host and immunity -- Epidemiology fully harnessed to public health: New York.

Evolution and genetics: Darwin and Galton -- Furthering the epidemiology of social gradients and disease: Goldberger and Sydenstricker -- Epidemiology after World War II: new times, new problems, new players -- The expanded epidemiology team: social scientists and statisticians join epidemiologists in social surveys -- The arsenal of observational methods in epidemiology: classical designs, the fourfold table, cohort and case-control studies.

Epidemiologic experiments: natural and contrived -- New designs and models -- Social science in epidemiology -- Epidemiologists and geneticists: a developing détente -- Infectious disease epidemiology: beyond bacteria -- Human immunodeficiency virus and the role of women: the new challenge -- Choosing a future for epidemiology: I. eras and paradigms -- Choosing a future for epidemiology: II. from black box to Chinese boxes and eco-epidemiology -- The eco- in eco-epidemiology.

Includes bibliographical references and index.