Profiling fifty of the most disgusting, painful, life-threatening and otherwise icky diseases, this remarkable book is the perfect treat for the closet temperature-taker, speed-dialing doctor stalker, or tissue-wielding virus-phobe in all of us. Each disease is fully documented, including a checklist of symptoms, an overview, treatment, prognosis, and-for the rare cases in which the reader is not yet infected-notes on prevention. With fascinating, sickeningly accurate text written by a member of the editorial staff in the Infectious Disease Department of Elsevier, The Hypochondriac's Pocket Guide to Horrible Diseases You Probably Already Have is capable of startling even the most health-confident into fanatical hand washing. Dennis DiClaudio is on the editorial staff of a renowned medical publisher, and a humor writer. His short pieces have been published in a number of journals, including Timothy McSweeney's Internet Tendency . He has also produced three of his plays for the New York International Fringe Festival and the Philadelphia Fringe Festival. He lives in Philadelphia.