American Museum of Natural History

Immediate Release

Epidemic! The World of Infectious Disease

February 27-September 6, 1999

The American Museum of Natural History began this century with one of the most popular exhibitions in its history, which focused on a devastating disease widespread in the early twentieth century: tuberculosis. Now looking towards the next millennium, the Museum is returning to this topic with a timely and far-reaching exhibition, Epidemic! The World of Infectious Disease. Opening on February 27, Epidemic! examines in detail one of the most critical issues facing humanity in the 21st century - how best to control the worldwide spread of infectious disease.

The exhibition, on view through September 6, explores the biological and ecological factors that influence the causes, spread, and control of infectious disease, and investigates the ways in which different cultures meet and fight devastating diseases. In emphasizing the delicate balance among microorganisms, humans, other species, and the environments within which they live, Epidemic! stresses the urgent need to understand the global nature of infectious disease. "Epidemic! examines a subject of compelling interest and great importance to everyone who lives on this planet," said Ellen V. Futter, president of the American Museum of Natural History. "The exhibition explores the incredibly fascinating, and at times deadly, world of microbes, which are found everywhere on Earth, including in each of us. While many microbes are harmless, others cause lethal diseases that have ravaged humanity for centuries. All of us have been infected by a cold or flu virus; some of us may have contracted Lyme disease or Hepatitis; many have lost a friend or loved one to AIDS. The message of Epidemic! is one of hope - that in understanding the science behind these constantly evolving microbes, and how various ecological and cultural factors affect them, we will gain an ever-stronger appreciation of the natural world in which we live, and how we can best co-exist with it."

Epidemic! has been organized by Rob DeSalle, associate curator in the Museum's Department of Entomology and co-director of the Museum's molecular laboratories. Dr. DeSalle, whose fields of specialization are molecular evolution, population genetics, molecular systematics, and developmental biology, commented that "this exhibition may be the single most important thing I will do at this Museum. It is truly about science education in its broadest sense, in the service of humanity. It is important because it is about public health - not simply the health of each of us and of our families , but the health of all people on this planet."

Special Advisory Committee
A highly distinguished group of health-care professionals and infectious disease experts has served as advisors to Dr. DeSalle, helping him shape the content of the exhibition. Established two years ago, the committee includes Jeremiah A. Barondess, M.D., President, New York Academy of Medicine; Anthony S. Fauci, M.D., Director, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health; Margaret A. Hamburg, M.D., Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; Joshua Lederberg, Ph.D., Sackler Foundation Scholar, The Rockefeller University; Joseph Edward McDade, Ph.D., Deputy Director, National Center for Infectious Diseases, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; and other noted specialists in a wide array of infectious disease-related fields from leading organizations in the U.S. and abroad. (See the attached list for the names and affiliations of the entire committee.)

Sponsorship
This exhibition is made possible through the generous support of Bristol-Myers Squibb Company. Major funding has also been provided by the Lila Wallace-Reader's Digest Endowment Fund.

The Exhibition
Epidemic! uses an imaginative array of dioramas, three-dimensional models, videos, films, state-of-the-art interactive computer stations, photographs, and comprehensive wall text to lead visitors on an investigation of the world of infectious disease. The story is told on several levels, so that both children and adults will learn more about how infectious disease affects them, and what they can do about it. Throughout the exhibition, specific diseases, including AIDS, ebola, flu, hantavirus, Lyme disease, malaria, tuberculosis, and the illness caused by E. coli 0157: H7, are used as examples to illustrate the larger issues of containment, treatment, and prevention in different historical and cultural contexts.

The exhibition is divided into the following sections:

• The Prologue introduces the visitor to the world of infectious disease with a video presentation that uses images and text gathered from newspaper headlines, television newscasts, and public service announcements. Visitors learn that a microbe lies at the center of an outbreak of disease; if we can identify the microbe and learn about its ecology and how it evolves, then we have a much better chance of protecting ourselves from the disease it causes.

• Environmental Change focuses on the interactions of microbes, humans, and all other species sharing an environment, and explains what can happen when ecological conditions change. Illustrating the effects of what can happen with a short-term shift in ecological conditions, such as a season of unusually heavy rainfall, a diorama tells the story of the 1993 hantavirus outbreak, a mysterious respiratory illness which appeared suddenly and killed several young, healthy adults in the Four Corners region of the southwestern United States. This section of the exhibition continues with an examination of how long-term environmental changes, differing rates of evolution and adaptation in microbes and in humans, and human behavior, can contribute to the spread of disease.

  It focuses on the history of malaria, a disease which kills at least 2 million people a year. Humans evolve biological adaptations far more slowly than microbes, but we do have ways of dealing with the threat of some of these microbes, such as mosquito netting and smoke in the case of malaria. The vignettes in this section also show how our responses to an infectious disease -DDT spraying, for instance - can bring unexpected consequences.

• It's a Small World: Microbes and Others defines microorganisms, focusing on five different groups which are responsible for most of the world's epidemic diseases: bacteria, viruses, protists, fungi, and helminthes. The gallery features large colorful, three-dimensional models of these organisms that reveal their varied and fascinating forms as they "float" over the gallery walls and spread through the exhibition. There is also an interactive scan of the human body to illustrate the diversity of microbes and the fact that many of them are helpful to our bodies.

• The Study of Microbes provides historical perspectives, and details the technological advancements that have enabled scientists to study microbes and develop vaccines and medicines in the laboratory. A modern-day laboratory, as well as a diorama of a "high containment" laboratory, are the main focus of this section, which includes a variety of interactive stations where visitors can learn about the kinds of equipment, diagnostic techniques, and medical research methods that are used today. Wentzscopes (microscopes with large lenses) enable visitors to actually view real microbes as a scientist does.

• Infection focuses on how microbes enter the human body, how they attempt to use the body to maximize their evolutionary potential, and how the body responds to the infection. This section includes a large animated video projection that follows a flu microbe as it is inhaled by a human, causing an infection in the respiratory system. Three-dimensional models and interactive stations illustrate how the immune system fights infection, and how medicines - from plants to antibiotics to vaccines - work. This section also includes a brief history of major discoveries that led to cures, and an interactive game for two players that pits one of more than ten infectious diseases against a human immune system.

• Outbreak uses historic and modern examples to explain how an infection is spread locally through a human population: through water, food, and blood; aerosols emitted from coughing and sneezing; sexual contact; and insect vectors, or carriers. It also details some types of precautions that can be taken to avoid outbreaks. In addition, this section features dramatic three-dimensional models that illustrate stories of actual outbreaks. These include a model of the bow of a ship with rats running down its hawsers, showing how black plague invaded fourteenth-century Venice; a water-pump on display as an example of how cholera infected nineteenth-century London, air-conditioning ducts symbolizing Legionnaire's Disease, and the back of a grocery truck as a metaphor for food poisoning in late-twentieth-century United States.

• Epidemic/Pandemic describes how human populations are now linked globally through infectious disease. Large animated maps of the world illustrate how trade, travel, and migration; war; climate; and urbanization have all contributed to the spread of specific diseases. Epidemic/Pandemic includes a special section that explores the modern pandemic, AIDS, and focuses on its social impact locally, nationally, and internationally.

• The concluding section, Taking Action, examines many of the ways in which individuals, the local community, and the global population can take action in dealing with infectious disease. One of the highlights in this section is a panel from the AIDS Memorial Quilt, on loan from the NAMES Project, a group founded in San Francisco in 1987 that uses the Quilt as a way to raise public awareness of AIDS. During the run of the exhibition several different panels, each commemorating an individual or a group of friends who have died from AIDS, will be displayed on a rotating basis. Taking Action includes a large resource center, which uses a variety of formats, ranging from specially created pages on the Museum's Web site, where visitors may access many other Web sites and can e-mail pertinent information to their home computers. There is also a small library of reference works, and a wide selection of take-away brochures published by New York City's Department of Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the World Health Organization, and other health-related organizations.

Special Programming
In conjunction with Epidemic!, the Museum's Department of Education has developed a full complement of programs for adults, children, students, and teachers, including lectures, panel discussions, films, and family programs. The Department has also published curriculum guides and a free booklet for children on infectious disease, Infection Detection Protection, which is available in English and Spanish in the exhibition. In addition, in July 1999, New Press will publish, in conjunction with the Museum, a book of essays selected and organized by Dr. DeSalle that will feature selections written by members of the Epidemic! Advisory Committee.

Exhibition Team
Epidemic! The World of Infectious Disease was designed and executed by the American Museum of Natural History's Department of Exhibition, under the direction of David Harvey, vice president of Exhibition. Exhibition developer was Robert Vinci; content coordinator was Marla Jo Brickman; exhibition designer was Larry Langham; lighting designer was David Clinard; graphics designer was Jayne Hertko.

Hours

The Museum is open daily, 10:00 a.m.—5:45 p.m.
The Museum is closed Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Public Information

For additional information, the public may call 212-769-5100. For ticket reservations, the public may call 212-769-5200. On the Internet: www.amnh.org * * *

For more information, contact the Museum's Department of Communications, 212-769-5800.

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