Plague-Busters!: Medicine's Battles with History's Deadliest Diseases

by Lindsey Fitzharris, Adrian Teal (illustrator)

Smallpox! Rabies! Black Death! Throughout history humankind has been plagued by . . . well, by plagues. The symptoms of these diseases were gruesome-but the remedies were even worse.

Get to know the ickiest illnesses that have infected humans and affected civilizations through the ages. Each chapter explores the story of a disease, including the scary symptoms, kooky cures, and brilliant breakthroughs that it spawned. Medical historian and bestselling author Lindsey Fitzharris lays out the facts with her trademark wit, and Adrian Teal adds humor with cartoons and caricatures drawn in pitch black and blood red. Diseases covered in this book include bubonic plague, smallpox, rabies, tuberculosis, cholera, and scurvy.

Thanks to centuries of sickness and a host of history's most determined plague-busters, this riveting book features everything you've ever wanted to know about the world's deadliest diseases.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Middle Grade, Science, Medicine, Historical, Childrens

176 pages, Paperback

Published October 14, 2025

About the author

I am the author of The Butchering Art: Joseph Lister’s Quest to Transform the Grisly World of Victorian Medicine, which won the PEN/E. O. Wilson Award for Literary Science Writing and has been translated into multiple languages. My TV series The Curious Life and Death of . . . aired on the Smithsonian Channel in 2020. I contribute regularly to The Wall Street Journal, Scientific American, and other notable publications, and hold a doctorate in the History of Science and Medicine from the University of Oxford. My next book, The Facemaker, will be released in June. It follows the harrowing story of Harold Gillies, the pioneering surgeon who rebuilt soldiers' faces during the First World War.

Reviews

[Nicole · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such an amazingly illustrated children's nonfiction book!

Spoiler-free review on my channel here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GroE_...

[Jennifer Mangler · Rating 4 out of 5]

This would be a good introduction to disease and how humans have, over time, made discoveries and innovations that have helped humanity tackle them effectively. It's entertaining and a bit gory, and I can see it being a hit with middle grades students interested in the topic. It's a pretty quick and easy read. I appreciate that, as middle grades books seem to be getting longer and longer, and that can be a turn-off to anyone who isn't a big reader. I enjoyed reading it and, despite having read a fair bit about infectious disease, learned several new things.

[Charlotte · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lindsey could write a detailed grocery list and I would read it

[Lisa Gisèle · Rating 5 out of 5]

A comprehensive history of plagues. You could swear this was a book of fiction by the "cures" and general way of thinking people had back then. Being arrested and placed in a insane asylum for wanting people to was their hands after touching dead bodies for one, but then I remember our pandemic and realize it adds up.

[Katie Mac · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received an eARC of this book from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

As a precocious middle-grade reader, I would have sat down and devoured this book in one sitting. It's a gruesome-yet-fun, informative examination of six of the deadliest diseases in history (the bubonic plague, smallpox, rabies, cholera, tuberculosis, and scurvy); the illustrations add to the lighthearted nature of the narrative. I wish Lindsey Fitzharris had been more consistent in the pronunciations she chose to include (they dwindle halfway through the book), but otherwise the content is both concise and accessible.

[Amy Marker · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was so interesting! I learned quite a bit about this topic in such a fun way, and loved the illustrations, too.

[Yael · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great history of medicine for younger readers (and their parents!).

[Kim Bahr · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting, easy to read, and informative!!!

[Ashley (Red-Haired Ash Reads) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Medical Historian and author Lindsey Fitzharris is back and talking about plagues, but geared towards children. This book takes a look at six of history's most deadliest plagues and how the world dealt with them. Each chapter explores a different disease, its symptoms, the history of finding a cure, and ends with a section on famous deaths from the disease.

This book covers six diseases that have ravished society throughout history: the bubonic plague, smallpox, rabies, tuberculosis, cholera, and scurvy. This book is geared towards children so all the information is presented in a very simple, easy to read format, and even includes helpful pronunciation for people's names. This was a great introduction for anyone wanting to learn a little bit about plagues without being overwhelmed by too much information. Paired with this information are wonderful illustrations created by Fitzharris’ husband, Adrian Teal.

If you are looking for a medical history book for a child, or for yourself, I highly recommend this book.

[vismundcygnus · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ll first off note that I do have a bias where I enjoy medical history a great deal and I have an appreciation for lively art.
That being said, I truly believe this book is enjoyable whether you’re 10 or 100 years old, it’s so fun and easy to grasp, as I was reading it I couldn’t wait to get to the next sentence. Usually when reading I need a little break but I blazed through this and was sad there wasn’t more! It was fascinating to read and learn about how professionals have come to treat diseases, and the accompanying art us such a delightful treat. I cannot recommend this book enough. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed Dr. Fitzharris’ other books as well, she has such a gifted way of meshing story, scene, and medical history in a way that’s, to be blunt, not-boring. Do yourself a favour and see yourself with a copy of Plague-Busters! The book is aimed more towards youths but honestly I enjoyed it all the same as an adult.

[Joshua Hair · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mothers, buy your kids this book. It's educational, gross, and fun. Fathers, read it when your kids are done with it so you don't sound so stupid when talking about COVID. (Note: For better results, read it with them. They'll thank you later in life.)

[Jennifer Malinowski · Rating 5 out of 5]

Perfect children’s book for parents who love This Podcast Will Kill Ypu. Accessible language and fantastic illustrations, Plague-Busters dives into some of histories infamous natural killers, like plague and rabies. Filled with just enough grossness to keep your average child wanting to learn more, it also highlights some of the most famous deaths to come from these nasty bugs.

If you have kids or grandchildren, this is a great book for the 8-12 age range, IMO. As an adult, if you want a more detailed and adult reading, please check out Dr Fitzharris’ other books, starting with The Butchering Art.

[Book Club of One · Rating 4 out of 5]

Is there a precocious child in your life forever asking why? Offer them Plague-Busters! Medicine's Battles With History's Deadliest Disease to gain some quiet before they, inevitably, ask questions related to the book's content!

Lindsey Fitzharris, hols a doctorate in the History of Science and Medicine and has previously published: The Facemaker: A Visionary Surgeon's Battle to Mend the Disfigured Soldiers of World War I and The Butchering Art: Joseph Lister's Quest to Transform the Grisly World of Victorian Medicine, here, working with husband and illustrator Adrian Teal, Fitzharris presents her first book intended for Children.

Plague-Busters! looks at six of the most historically threatening diseases to humanity. Each chapter details the course of the disease in both its known origins or early cases, details symptoms, before exploring the way medical practitioners responded and the discovery of successful treatments or cures. Some of the illnesses detailed: Plague, rabies, tuberculosis and scurvy. Along the way Fitzharris includes micro-biographies of important figures and ends each chapter with a list of notable figures (Written as "Famous Deaths from ______") killed by that sections disease.

Teal's drawings help lighten the tone of the narrative (as do Fitzharris's jokes or asides) aiming for a more caricatured style of figurative drawing. These drawings help emphasize the person's biographies or offer emphasis of specific points in the text. As a work of medical history, it ends with a listing of consulted sources and a section labelled as "Further Reading for Future Medical Historians."

A well thought out and presented work of medical history for a younger audience. It should appeal to anyone interested in Caitlin Doughty's Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs? And other Questions about Dead Bodies or having been through the COVID Pandemic, those curious about other pandemics of humanity.

I received a free digital version of this Ebook via NetGalley thanks to the publisher.

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

Plague-busters! discusses history’s deadliest diseases, including chapters on: plague, smallpox, rabies, tuberculosis, cholera, and scurvy. The chapters cover the history of the disease, how treatments and vaccines were discovered, ineffective treatments that were used in the meantime, and famous people who died from each disease. History was often cruel to the forward-thinking physicians and surgeons of the day who discovered treatments. Many were ignored or discounted.

Plague-busters! showed how people often blamed the poor for their own misfortune. Some said that the poor were receiving God’s judgment for their sins, but the authors demonstrated that the poor often lived in highly concentrated areas where diseases like cholera easily spread. It was also interesting how treatable many of these diseases were with solutions like getting Vitamin C, staying hydrated, or having designated places to use the bathroom.

This would be a great book for readers who enjoy reading non-fiction books, especially if they are interested in learning more about disease transmission. This would be a great fit for readers who enjoy learning biographical information about famous doctors, notable patients or historical figures, or people who have died from certain diseases. This book is extremely humorous for a book about deadly diseases, so if a reader enjoys a light-hearted retelling of events, they would enjoy this book.

[Carin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ve read both of Ms. Fitzhugh’s adult books on medical history and loved them both! So I picked up this kids book right away. A lot of this I did know–about the discovery of cow pox making people immune to small pox and the invention of variolation and about the plague mask the doctor is wearing on the front cover (that makes him look like a crow.) But it’s always nice to get a refresher, and this was presented in such a fun and entertaining way that I really whipped through it. It’s only a little bit gross (although that’s generally not a negative with kids anyway) but should be really fresh and interesting.

I did especially love how occasionally Ms. Fitzhugh would point out how doctors at time time thought certain things (for instance, about the four “humors” or how there couldn’t possibly be tiny things we can’t see inside us making us sick) that were wrong, but they worked with the best knowledge of the time, and we might similarly be working from bad assumptions or misunderstood knowledge today, that might prove equally misguided and even silly down the road.

This book is published by Bloomsbury Children’s Books, which is distributed by Macmillan, my employer, so I read it for free.

[Hilary · Rating 4 out of 5]

Picked this up because I really enjoyed Lindsey Fitzharris' book The Butchering Art. Somehow, however, I missed that this particular volume was targeted as school aged kids. For personal reading purposes I'd give this 2 stars as it was *not* what I was looking for. That said, I'm absolutely not the target age demographic. It was written for an older child, and they even put sources in the back, which impressed me. Most childrens books wouldn't even bother. Solid 4 stars if you are the target audience, and cheers to the authors for understanding that children want to learn about cholera, rabies, etc too.

[Anne Bennett · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting. No new information plowed here, however. I do enjoy learning about diseases, oddly. And I was amazed to learn/think about how we have not learned much from history. Just like in the old days, people today still believe stupid stuff about health/disease prevention. I just learned today that 17,000 people at least died during the COVID pandemic because the President suggested they take hydroxychloroquine. Studied were done which showed that people who took that were more likely to die from COVID than people who didn't take it, even though they also had COVID. Sounds like they need to learn some new plague buster info!

[Kelsey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Plague-Busters is full of gruesome, vivid descriptions of the terrible diseases that have plagued human history. Written in a conversational yet humorous tone, readers will be engrossed with this book and entertained by the illustrations. Sprinkled in between historical breakdowns of specific diseases, readers will stumble across my favorite sections: "Bills of Mortality: Famous Deaths from ___". Who knew that Edgar Allen Poe likely died of rabies?

Thanks to NetGalley for providing a digital arc in exchange for an honest review.

[Lisa G. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved reading Plague-Busters as an adult, and my only wish is that wish is that it had been around when I was a kid. I hated science and avoided it like the plague (sorry) but it turns out that science isn’t boring after all, it was only the way it was presented in school. The cartoons are wonderful, and really add context to the information. This is an entertaining, educational and very enjoyable read for any age, and I think it will inspire kids to tackle other non-fiction and science books. Highly recommend!

[Stefany · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well, I put this on hold at the library not realizing it was junior non-fiction. But I enjoyed it a lot! I like Fitzharris's medical histories, and this one is similar just geared toward junior readers. It would be perfect for a late elementary or middle school student interested in medicine. She described several "old" diseases and the way they were treated historically, as well as what we know about them now. She also included well known people who died of each disease which was interesting.

[LPMS Library · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent non-fiction title devoted to telling the brief and fascinating stories of some of history's deadliest diseases, like: Cholera, the Black Death (or plague), Tuberculosis (TB), Smallpox, Scurvy and even Rabies!

Filled with short accounts of the how the diseases began, spread, claimed their victims, and were eventually "cured", Plague Busters is a fantastic next read for any young reader (middle to lower high school) interested in learning more about humanities historical fight with deadly diseases.

[H. Woodward · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is exactly the kind of nonfiction that will draw in struggling readers in middle school. Especially those readers who love the morbid, bizarre, and true! It’s got great illustrations. It’s filled with lots of good scientific information which also happens to be gross. And it involves putting chicken butts in your armpits! Honestly, what could be better?I highly recommend it. We need more YA nonfiction like this. Would be a great companion to a world history class, too.

[Christine LaBatt · Rating 5 out of 5]

A book about some of history's worst plagues! Full of fun facts and good illustrations, this book was a delight. I knew a lot of this as I studied history, but I still learned so much! I really liked how accessible it was and that it included phonetic pronunciations for words students probably wouldn't know. I'd highly recommend for anyone, not just kids!

I received my copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

[Dai Guerra · Rating 5 out of 5]

My special interests are viruses, diseases, and all related to those subjects so I am always happy when I get to read a book that provides me with more information. I really enjoyed the way this book was laid out and the images that added to each section. I also really liked how easy it is to comprehend and how it instills just the right amount of fear for the intended age group. I also liked that it provided information that I wasn't too familiar with about each disease.

[Kim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cholera, Plague, Rabies, Tuberculosis, Smallpox caused the deaths of millions of people over the centuries until scientists finally figured out how to prevent these diseases. With lots of delightful, gory details, Lindsey Fitzharris makes the history of medicine fun and interesting.

Even if your young reader isn't into medicine, they'll like this travel back into the gruesome history. Perfect for ages 10 and up.

[Raven Black · Rating 5 out of 5]

Both humorous and educational. Great introduction to science, medical and general world history. The connection to today's issues mirror from the past, the same attitudes, and even lack of understanding. Presenting facts in a manner we can relate to, no part is bad. Tastefully gives the more serious parts importance and doesn't go for the gross out.

[Kristi · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a great introduction for middle grade readers to the history of medicine, scientific research, and epidemic diseases. Many kids will enjoy the short sections tracing each major disease, and the illustrations and sidebars provide a fun view of these historical people.

I received an advanced copy of this book from #NetGalley.

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lot of really good information and interesting history given in an easy to comprehend and follow conversational tone. The facts are interspersed with many sarcastic observations and plenty of dark, wry humor. Some of the descriptions and illustrations might be a bit graphic for younger readers, but this would be great for teens wanting to learn more about different diseases and pandemics.

[Juniper Lee · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have been wanting to read Plague-Busters ever since my request to read it was denied on Netgalley😭
And might I say.

I love weird, microhistories. I love the history that we don’t get from textbooks. I especially love when science and history collides to tell us the story of the world.

This is an excellent book for kids who are interested in the ookey spooky gorey side of history.

[Leah Pi · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m a biology teacher and a mom. I got this book for myself, and my seven year old was immediately hooked. He insisted that I read it to him. The book kept both of us engaged. I loved reading and sharing info with him, and I learned a few new things too. Excellent read! We got it from the library, and it’s going on my list of books to buy.