An inside account of the fight to contain the world's deadliest diseases - and the panic and corruption that make them worse. Throughout history, humankind's biggest killers have been infectious diseases: the Black Death, the Spanish Flu, and AIDS alone account for over one hundred million deaths. We ignore this reality most of the time, but when a new threat - Ebola, SARS, Zika, coronavirus - seems imminent, we send our best and bravest doctors to...

Throughout history, humankind's biggest killers have been infectious diseases: the Black Death, the Spanish Flu, and AIDS alone account for over one hundred million deaths. We ignore this reality most of the time, but when a new threat--Ebola, SARS, Zika--seems imminent, we send our best and bravest doctors to contain it. People like Dr. Ali S. Khan.In his long career as a public health first responder-protected by a thin mask from infected patients,...