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form, I found variation in the quality
and content of some of the chapters. For
example, the chapters on respiratory tract
infections (chapters 5–7), soft tissue
(chapters 15 and 16), bone and joint infections (chapters 18 and 19), as well as
travel medicine (chapters 27–29), were
well written, with a concise, readable format. Unfortunately, I found that some of
the other chapters were superficial and
simply summarized the material from the
standard textbooks of infectious diseases
almost directly, with only limited references. Other topics were too broad to be
included in this book, or were not truly
“hot.” An example of the former is chapter
22, “Sexually Transmitted Diseases.” Although this may be a hot topic in primary
care, the guidelines presented by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
in May 2002 provide a more concise and
equally satisfactory discussion [1]. To try
to review the diagnosis and treatment of
Lyme disease, as is attempted in chapter
24, is an overly ambitious goal and can
only lead to a superficial and unsatisfying discussion. However, chapter 30, “The
Principle Agents of Bio-Terrorism,” is a
well-written summary that is certainly important to the entire medical community.
I applaud Dr. Lo Re for attempting to
put together a text that concisely describes
so many of the clinical diseases that are
encountered on a regular basis by practicing physicians and allied care personnel.
However, I suspect that the infectious diseases specialist would have little use for
this book. I encourage our infectious diseases fellows to read a standard textbook
of infectious diseases rather than the type
of condensed material presented in this
text. Although it would have been useful
to have illustrations included, particularly
when discussing some of the skin and softtissue infections, appropriate references
are made where these illustrations and
photographs can be found.
In summary, although each chapter has
a different approach to the clinical issues
reviewed, I find that most of the chapters
were well written. Also, they were relative-
ly well-referenced, which will help those
looking for more detailed information.
Thus, I would certainly recommend Infectious Diseases: Hot Topics for primary
care physicians as a useful reference book
for their daily practice when encountering
patients with clinical infectious diseases.
Jerome F. Levine
Division of Infectious Diseases, Department
of Internal Medicine, Hackensack University
Medical Center, Hackensack, New Jersey
References
1. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Sexually transmitted diseases treatment guidelines 2002. MMWR Recomm Rep 2002; 51(RR6):1–82.
Zoonoses: Infectious
Diseases Transmissible
from Animals to Humans,
3rd Edition
By Hartmut Krauss,
Albert Weber, Max Appel,
Burkhard Enders, Henry D. Isenberg,
Hans G. Schiefer, Werner Slenczka,
Alexander von Graevenitz,
and Horst Zahner
Washington, D.C.: American Society for
Microbiology Press, 2003. 456 pp., illustrated.
$79.95 (cloth).
This is a handbook of infectious diseases
that are transmissible from animals to humans and vice versa. The first 2 editions
of the book were written and published
in German. The third edition is also available in German, but, in addition, has been
translated into English in order to reach
a global readership. Nine distinguished
European and American scientists with diverse backgrounds in virology, microbiology, and parasitology have authored the
new edition. Their fields of expertise range
from clinical practice of veterinary medicine to human occupational medicine
and public health. The authors stress the
need for close cooperation between medical and veterinary sciences to advance the
1198 • CID 2004:38 (15 April) • BOOK REVIEW
understanding of zoonotic agents and the
illnesses that they cause.
The book consists of 4 main chapters
comprising discussions of viral, bacterial,
fungal, and parasitic zoonoses. An extensive list of subchapters that give short descriptions of well-known diseases, as well
as some rare infections, can be found
within each main chapter. The list is upto-date and includes discussions about
West Nile fever virus, monkey pox virus,
coronaviruses (e.g., the severe acute respiratory syndrome [SARS] agent), as well
as the prion disease agents that have
caused recent disease outbreaks among
humans and/or animals in the United
States. The book has 456 pages, and the
more than 230 subchapters are, by necessity, relatively short and concise descriptions of infectious syndromes. However,
the length of each subchapter and the
relative weight of the discussions about
epidemiology, clinical presentation, pathophysiology, laboratory diagnosis, treatment, and prophylaxis vary for each of the
individual subchapters and undoubtedly
reflect the individual authors’ personal
clinical experiences and research interests.
Several of the subchapters in the section
on viral zoonoses include descriptions of
recommended PCR techniques for detection of specific viral pathogens and list
specific primer sequences and corresponding bibliography references. This type of
information may not be relevant to some
readers, since specific epidemiologic or
clinical conditions on one continent may
be different from those on other continents; furthermore, the procedure details
may already have become outdated by the
time of the book’s release. This information could also be potentially misleading,
since the listed primer references, for the
most part, have been limited to single articles. The subchapters in the sections for
bacterial, fungal, and parasitic infections
do not contain sections about diagnostic
PCR techniques.
One of the main limitations of this book
is the lack of an introductory chapter
that considers an approach to patients
and their disease processes based on evaluation of disease signs and symptoms. As
with many infectious disease syndromes,
a zoonotic infection often debuts as a nonspecific febrile illness, and a discussion of
a common approach to the patient who
presents with a nonspecific febrile illness
could potentially help clinicians identify
specific disease processes in a costefficient and time-efficient manner. The
current book format requires that the
reader already have some basic knowledge
of the specific disease-causing agent(s) and
the differential diagnoses for the disease
syndrome.
There are some minor inaccuracies in
a number of the subchapters throughout
the book. For example, we know now that
1 of the 3 hunters in Northern Wisconsin who allegedly died of CreutzfeldtJakob disease actually died of Pick disease,
which has not been related to prion disease. Chloramphenicol is no longer recommended for treatment of human ehrlichial or anaplasma infections, given the
lack of demonstrated in vitro effect and
clinical failure in vivo resulting in fatal
outcomes for several children. The mortality rate for patients with human anaplasmosis was initially estimated to be as
high as 15%. More recent information indicates that the rate is 1% or lower. The
impact of these and other inaccuracies on
the reading experience as a whole, however, is minor.
Abbreviations are frequently used
throughout the text, and a short glossary
of commonly used laboratory terms can
be found in the introductory pages. An
expanded glossary that also includes the
specific disease names and their abbreviations (such as Japanese encephalitis [JE],
St. Louis encephalitis [SLE], human monocytic ehrlichiosis [HME], and others)
would have enhanced and expedited the
reading experience.
Each of the subchapters concludes
with a representative reference bibliography. In addition, the preface refers
readers who want more extensive information about specific diseases to a
number of excellent standard textbook
sources. However, there was no reference to the most recent editions of
Cook and Zumla’s Manson’s Tropical
Diseases [1] and Cohen and Powderly’s
Infectious Diseases [2]. It should also be
mentioned that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC;
Atlanta, GA) maintains continually
updated websites (http://www.cdc.gov/
health/default.htp) for most of the zoonoses that are included in this book.
Despite some of the shortcomings
mentioned, the book contains a wealth of
information and serves as a valuable
quick-reference source about infectious
agents that cause diseases in humans and
animals. The text reads very well, and the
information in each subchapter and in the
index is comprehensive, detailed, and well
organized. I found Appendix E, which lists
zoonoses connected with specific animals,
to be a particularly helpful quick reference.
There are relatively few color photograph
illustrations, but those that are present are
of excellent quality. This book should be
especially valuable to veterinarians, physicians, public health officials, epidemiologists, and microbiologists, as well as
physician extenders (clinical nurse practitioners or physician assistants) who are
still in training or are in the early stages
of their professional careers. However, the
depth of the information in each section
is not extensive enough to satisfy the
reader who seeks comprehensive information about specific zoonotic agents or
wants to gain cutting-edge information
about new or reemerging zoonoses.
Johan S. Bakken
St. Luke’s Infectious Disease Associates,
Duluth, Minnesota
References
1. Cook GC, Zumla A, eds. Manson’s Tropical
Diseases, 21st Edition. London: Elsevier Science, 2003.
2. Cohen J, Powderly WG, eds. Infectious Diseases, 2nd Edition. Philadelphia: Elsevier, 2004.
Manual of Clinical
Microbiology, 8th Edition.
Edited by Patrick R. Murray,
Ellen Jo Baron, James H. Jorgensen,
Michael A. Pfaller, and Robert H. Yolken
Washington, D.C.: American Society
for Microbiology Press, 2003.
2322 pp. $189.95 (cloth).
Every field of endeavor has one resource
that is universally acclaimed among practitioners as its “bible.” For clinical microbiologists, it is the Manual of Clinical Microbiology (MCM). Some 30 years after the
first edition appeared, the MCM is now
in its eighth edition, in 2 volumes and 141
chapters spanning all areas of this expanding field. If there is one word that can
be used to describe the MCM, it is, most
assuredly, “encyclopedic.”
From the introductory chapters discussing laboratory management, design,
and information systems to the chapters
discussing identification algorithms and
media preparation and the extensive and
authoritative chapters reviewing the microbiologic and clinical laboratory features of all medically important infectious
agents, the MCM offers a single, comprehensive reference source for the clinicalmicrobiology laboratory. Volume 1 includes sections I and II, which, in part,
review general clinical microbiology topics
as well as discuss the principles of infection
control and the detection of potential bioterrorism agents. Section III is a review of
technologies and instrumentation, and
sections IV and V extensively discuss bacteriology and antibiotic susceptibility testing. Volume 2 comprises sections VI–IX,
which discuss virology, mycology and
parasitology.
Although it is unlikely that one will actually read the entire work, I found the
chapters on my areas of special interest to
be well written and up-to-date, complete
with many color photographs and a broad
list of references. Within the sections, each
chapter is crafted as a mini-review and
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