Cavanaugh, C. M.: "Microbial Symbiosis: Patterns of Diversity in the Marine Environment," American Zoologist, vol. 34, 1994, pages 79-89. Chemoautotrophic bacteria (bacteria able to synthesize energy from chemical compounds rather than light energy) are critical to such communities as the deep-sea hydrothermal vents, where they live symbiotically inside the giant tube worms.

Chin, G. J. and J. Marx: "Resistance to Antibiotics," Science vol. 264, April 15, 1994, pages 359-93. One of several excellent articles in this issue of Science dealing with the current status of antimicrobial drugs in medicine, particularly the development of the disturbing resistance to drugs that appears to be on the increase.

Ewald, P. W.: "On Darwin, Snow, and Deadly Diseases: An Evolutionary Approach to Disease Control Could Vastly Improve Public Health," Natural History, vol. 103, June 1994, pages 42-45. An intriguing application to public health using the epidemiology of cholera as an example.

Fenchel, T. and B. J. Finlay: "The Evolution of Life Without Oxygen," American Scientist, vol. 82, January/February 1994, pages 22–29. The role of the prokaryote in eukaryotic evolution is examined.

Fincher, J.: "America’s Deadly Rendezvous with the ‘Spanish Lady’," Smithsonian, January 1989, pages 131-45. In 1918, before the end of World War I, the world found itself fighting a killer flu for which it had no cure.

Iseman, M. D.: "Evolution of Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis: A Tale of Two Species," Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. USA, vol. 91, March 29, 1994, pages 2428–29. Drug-resistant diseases may be the biggest threat facing modern medicine. This article discusses the mechanisms by which the tuberculosis pathogen is becoming significantly dangerous.

Kiester, E.: "A Curiosity Turned into the First Silver Bullet Against Death," Smithsonian, vol. 21, November 1990, page 173. A very engaging account of the discovery of penicillin.

Levins, R., A. Tamara, and B. Uwe: "The Emergence of New Diseases," American Scientist, vol. 82, January/February 1994, pages 52-60. Many diseases are brought under controlor eradicated completely with adequate education, hygiene, and prophylactic behavior. Why do new ones develop? Microbes are remarkably versatile, mutating and adapting rapidly to new challenges they may face (such as antibiotics!).

Losick, R. and D. Kaiser: "Why and How Bacteria Communicate," Scientific American, February 1997, pages 68–73. Bacteria exhibit surprisingly sophisticated chemical communications.

Mee, C. L., Jr.: "How a Mysterious Disease Laid Low Europe’s Masses," Smithsonian, February 1990, pages 67–79. In the 1300s, a third of the population of Europe died of plague brought on by fleas.

Monmaney, T.: "Marshall’s Hunch," The New Yorker, September 20, 1993, pages 64–72. The unprecedented and unorthodox findings of an unknown doctor point toward a cure for stomach ulcers—he proved it to be an infectious disease! Highly recommended.