This work investigates the historical evolution of fever hospitals in Britain and the professionalization of the nurses who staffed them during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Margaret Currie examines the intersection of public health policy, social class, and medical practice to explain how the management of infectious diseases shaped the nursing profession. By analyzing the transition from charitable institutions to a centralized national service, the author provides a framework for understanding the labor conditions and societal perceptions of those tasked with caring for the contagious.

Historians of medicine recognize this text as a comprehensive account of a specialized branch of nursing history that is often overlooked in broader medical narratives. Readers frequently note the academic rigor of the research and the clarity with which the author connects institutional policy to the lived experiences of the nursing staff.