The Developing World
Garrett used this book as a way of criticizing the lack of involvement of wealthier nations in preventing the global health crisis that recurrently emerge in the poorest countries. She goes on to detail how western nations choose to ignore the crisis out of self-interest but when the crisis turns to an epidemic and affects their own nations, they finally take action. She coins this term as "Thirdworldization" of the richer countries and casts shame on them for not doing more to have stopped it form reaching the level of an epidemic.
Disease
Garett covers many specific diseases in this book, including HIV/AIDS, Lyme Disease, TB and Cholera. These diseases are usually prevalent in nations that lack sanitation and suffer from overcrowding, leading to faster transmission amongst its population. She goes onto explain how the situations would differ in more rural areas compared to a capital city, and how making simple changes, like providing access to basic hygiene, can reduce rates drastically.
Love for Biology
Prior to becoming a journalist, Garrett was a biologist and she specialized in bacteriology and immunology. In the book, she uses her knowledge to go on to provide a background on the mode of transmission of each disease, providing extensive detail to help reader’s understand the origins of the disease. Terms like “iatrogenic”, “nosocomial” and “epizootic” are embedded to help the reader build on their knowledge of immunology.
