Before 1955, when a vaccine first made polio a preventable illness, the paralysing disease had to be treated. For many, the best option was the iron lung, a device that came to symbolise an era of anxiety in mid-20th century America.

In 1854, an outbreak of mysterious “Asiatic Cholera” in London’s Soho drew the attention of a local doctor, who happened to also be a pioneering scientific mind

Mary Mallon was branded a public menace and incarcerated after typhoid outbreaks across New York City were linked to her presence in the kitchen