"Singapore is a young nation at the crossroads of Asia and consistently faces the threat of infectious diseases. The infectious disease threats have changed with the times - it began with malaria, cholera and plague during the earliest days of the Straights Settlements; to vaccine-preventible diseases such as polio and smallpox; and now modern scourges including HIV, SARS, pandemic influenza, and antibiotic-resistant bacteria that threaten a return to the pre-antibiotic era. Yet what is common is that the people and governments of Singapore have relentlessly worked together to overcome these diseases. The collected stories and records in this volume will remind us how far the nation has progressed."--Back cover.