THE BLUE DEATH begins in 1827 at a time when the scientific elite dismissed with scorn the notion that invisible killers might lie beyond the reach of human senses in something as innocent as a water glass. Today, fear of undetected contaminants in drinking water sends us rushing to our bottles of Perrier. Morris uses the dramatic stories of communities caught in the grip of deadly disease outbreaks and the scientists who have struggled to understand their cause to bring the story forward to the present.

Dr. Morris has spent the past 20 years in all aspects of water related research with more than 50 scientific publications and extensive consulting experience including work with the EPA, CDC, NIH and the National Academy of Science. The idea for this book grew out of a series of lectures Morris gave at Harvard School of Public Health. The response of those students and both scientific and general audiences around the world has convinced him to wirte this book.

Recent news of SARS, mad cow disease, West Nile virus and the threat of bioterrorism, has focused public attention on the risks of infectious disease. At the same time, Americans’ concerns about drinking water have created a bottled water industry with annual sales of ten billion dollars. THE BLUE DEATH is the first book written for the general public on the threat of waterborne disease.