It has been five years since the first edition of Infectious Diseases and Medical Microbiology appeared.
Over 200 individuals from this country and around the world have contributed to this edition, most of whom also contributed to the previous edition. The book is divided into three sections. The first covers general principles of microbiology, bacteriology, virology, mycology, parasitology, and antimicrobial chemotherapy. The second section discusses specific microbial agents, with a brief review of general response to infection. The third section reviews the clinical infectious disease syndromes by organ system. A subsection on infections acquired from animals and factitious illness is provided.
As with any textbook of this type, where the same subject matter is covered in two or possibly three sections, there is a tendency toward repetition. However, for the most part this has been avoided, since the initial section covers the characteristics of the organisms, eg, morphology, antigenic composition,