title: [Contagion in literature].
abstract: Contagious diseases are very suitable to be incorporated in novels. The fact that contagious diseases are by definition a social phenomenon provides these diseases with a social, political, moral and religious dimension, apart from the medical one. New scientific concepts about contagion are adopted in novels, elaborated further and even used metaphorically, for instance in the metaphor of contagion by ideas.
authors.affiliation: Vrije Universiteit Medisch Centrum, afd. Metamedica, Amsterdam, the Netherlands. ak.oderwald@vumc.nl
authors.forename: Arko
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Oderwald
mesh_terms: D001877:Books; D003141:Communicable Diseases; D006801:Humans; D008091:Literature; D012749:Sexually Transmitted Diseases