Find a Specific Book- Use if you already know what book you need.
MERLIN - For books held by MU
MOBIUS - For books you can borrow from other Missouri libraries
Request an Item/ILL@MU - For books not available in Missouri
These Library of Congress Subject Headings can be searched directly (MERLIN Subject Search) or added to a keyword search, e.g., "public health surveillance and encephalopath*"
Names of diseases are also usually searchable as subject headings.
To find books primarily ABOUT a particular disease, you can look that disease up as a SUBJECT (either Library of Congress/LC or Medical). Look for subject subdivisions like "early works" or"epidemiology" or "epidemics" or "history." Use Subject Search in the MERLIN or MOBIUS catalog. The subject heading "medicine, medievel" is also quite fruitful.
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To locate diseases where you can find old sources try KEYWORD searches that incorporate s:, which will locate terms in the Subject field:
s:"early works" and (fever or pox or pestilen* or plague) - you can use other words in parentheses, too.
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Try keyword searches using century-terms. Example: epidemi* and 15th century
The Cambridge Historical Dictionary of Disease by 
A database of encyclopedias, almanacs, and specialized reference sources for multidisciplinary research.
