Terra Ziporyn – författare

A well-researched, qualitative analysis of how the US mass media covered typhoid fever, diptheria, and syphilis from 1870 to 1920. Ziporyn, a free-lance writer and former American Association for the Advancement of Science mass media fellow, finds consistently high press coverage of typhoid fever contrasted with media disinterest in diptheria and cautious reporting about syphilis. The press's approaches differed, she explains, because the news media responded to dissimilar social values about typhoid fever, diptheria, and syphilis at the turn of the century. Ziporyn's observations are aided by a thorough, well-footnoted analysis of publications across 14 categories. ChoiceThis study explores the depiction of medical science to the American public through the medium of popular magazines in the period 1870 to 1920. To understand the impact of medical advances as conveyed by the popular press, Ziporyn examines articles on diphtheria, typhoid fever, and syphilis in major popular magazines of the time. In search of the common underlying premises, she analyzes the very different depictions of these three diseases: diptheria was associated with children, typhoid fever with uncleanliness, and syphilis with immorality. Although generally conservative in announcing advances, medical popularizers nevertheless presented theory as absolute certainty. Perhaps in anticipation of reader desires, popular articles portrayed medical science as completely devoid of uncertainty of error.

You know you are sick, but no one can put a name to your illness. You go from doctor to doctor, seeking a diagnosis. You have lost track of the tests that have been done on you and failed to give an answer. People tell you, "It's all in your head." Your medical insurance refuses to pay the bills. You feel all the worse because no one believes that something is really wrong. Sound familiar?Countless people suffer enormous physical, psychological, and financial distress from nameless diseases--any disease that hasn't been diagnosed yet, or whose very existence is a matter of medical controversy: AIDS, in the early 1980s, for example, as well as chronic fatigue syndrome, postpartum depression, premenstrual syndrome, and dyslexia. Terra Ziporyn, a medical journalist, explains why it can be so hard to find out what's wrong, why it matters so much, and what to do about it. As her examples vividly show, people with nameless diseases often feel that the pain of not knowing is worse than the disease. Anxious to help their patients, doctors sometimes find themselves forced to put a name on a condition they can't identify. Yet, a disease that hasn't been diagnosed correctly cannot be treated effectively. Nameless Diseases draws on the first-hand accounts of real patients, case studies, medical literature, and the history of medicine (which is littered with the names of discarded diseases) to explore all these issues.Nameless Diseases is compelling reading for anyone who has ever suffered from a medical mystery or seeks to understand the limitations of medical progress. The book includes a list of organizations devoted to education the public about commonly overlooked, unrecognized, rare, or misdiagnosed diseases.