For more than 30 years, F. L. Meleney's Clinical Aspects and Treatment of Surgical Infections, published in 1949, was virtually the only comprehensive book devoted to surgical infections. Despite continuing work in the field of surgical infections, advances in diagnosis, surgical techniques, and antibiotic therapy, no new books devoted exclusively to surgical infections have appeared until recently. Now, several books dealing with surgical infections have appeared in a relatively short time. This renewed interest is reflected in the formation of the Surgical Infection Society, which held its first meeting in 1981. Previously, infectious disease books have been written from the viewpoint of the infectious disease expert with a background in internal medicine. (One well-known book devotes only four pages to peritonitis.)
Intra-abdominal Infections, edited by S. E. Wilson, S. M. Finegold, and R. A. Williams, is one of the recent books written for the most part by surgeons. It has