On February 13, Booklist compiled a list of resources for librarians looking for information on the coronavirus and other epidemics and pandemics. The full list is reprinted below.

First reported in Wuhan, China, on December 31, the respiratory illness prompted by coronavirus (dubbed COVID-19) has since spread to 28 countries worldwide, infecting more than 60,000 individuals. Unfortunately, as cases across the globe increase, so too does the dangerous misinformation surrounding them. The below titles, about outbreaks, viruses, and vaccines, attempt to set the record straight.

The Vaccine Race: Science, Politics, and the Human Costs of Defeating Diseaseby Meredith WadmanWe tend to take vaccines and their benefits for granted until a new scare erupts, such as the Zika virus. Biomedical reporter Wadman explores in great detail the often controversial background stories of various major breakthroughs in cell biology that led to the creation of some of the worlds most important vaccines. Wadman reveals the unsung heroes behind the research as well as the medical experiments that readers will now find abhorrent. In all, an important book on a persistently controversial aspect of health care.

Virus: An Illustrated Guide to 101 Incredible Microbesby Marilyn J. RoossinckThe book begins with a history and time line of virology and a discussion of the life cycle of the major classes of virus. Profiles of 101 viruses follow, each with a color illustration. The profiles are grouped by host: human, vertebrates, plants, invertebrates, fungi, bacteria, and archaea. A short paragraph discusses relevant historical facts and the role of the virus in diseases, ecosystems, and so forth. A glossary, resource list, and index provide further information. This is a very useful resource suitable for school, public, and undergraduate libraries.

Zika: From the Brazilian Backlands to Global Threatby Debora Diniz and translated by Diane Grosklaus WhittyBrazilian bioethicist and filmmaker Diniz provides an eyewitness account of the 2015 Zika epidemic in northeastern Brazil. Her narrative is largely constructed from interviews with doctors and lab scientists but, more notably, conversations with mothers whose babies suffered from congenital Zika microcephaly, an abnormally small head associated with brain damage. An important and informative book because Zika has become a growing health concern for women of reproductive age.

More Deadly Than War: The Hidden History of the Spanish Flu and the First World War by Kenneth C. DavisDavis (In the Shadow of Liberty, 2016) argues persuasively that the Spanish flu pandemic had as muchif not moreof an effect on the outcome of WWI than any military strategy. Citing plenty of primary sources, Davis lays out how the pandemic was spread, the largely ineffective efforts to curtail it, and the many ways government officials, swept up in waves of nationalism, ignored the advice of medical professionals, which ultimately made the pandemic worse. Engaging and illuminating.

Centers for Disease Control and PreventionCoronavirus COVID-19 Global Cases by Johns Hopkins CSSEKaiser Health NewsLibrary JournalMedlinePlusStat NewsWorld Health Organization

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Setting the Record Straight: Panic and Pandemics - American Libraries