1. Domain of contagion and confinement -- 2. Framing "loathsome" diseases -- 3. Tides of inertia and neglect -- 4. Location: Not in my backyard -- 5. Banished: sojourns of the damned -- 6. Belle of California's Molokai -- 7. Wary minders: custodians and caregivers -- 8. Hope for cures: nature or science -- 9. Modern isolation: humanizing castaways.