Nicole Skinner

Skinner, Nicole

Hemeroteca Cientifica Catalana

74 INT. MICROBIOL. Vol. 10, 2007 BOOK REVIEWSAn infectious disease can be defined as a clinically evidentillness caused by one or more pathogenic microbial agents—bacteria, viruses, fungi, protozoans, and parasitic worms(helminthes)—that invade, grow, and multiply in the body,impairing the host’s functions through damage or injury totissues and organs. However, infectious diseases are not dueto pathogenic microorganisms alone, but rather to their inter-play with the immune-system defenses of the hosts theyinfect. Microbiología e immunologia médicas is the Spanishtranslation of Medical microbiology and immunology, byWarren Levinson, Professor of Microbiology and Im-munology for over 30 years at the University of California-San Francisco Medical School. The book comprises elevenparts. In the first seven, which are subdivided into sixty-eightshort chapters, Levinson provides a basic framework forunderstanding each concept or organism with the help ofconcise subsections, numerous summary tables, simplifieddiagrams, and excellent illustrations. Basic and clinical bac-teriology are the focus of the book’s first two parts. Part Ibegins by explaining bacterial cells in terms of their struc-ture, growth (metabolism), and genetics, and then proceedsto discuss pathogenesis, host resistance, laboratory diagnosis,antimicrobial drugs, and sterilization techniques. Part II,“Clinical bacteriology”, provides a summary of the clinical-ly important gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria,mycobacteria, actinomycetes (actinobacteria), mycoplasma,chlamydia, Rickettsia, and other minor bacterial pathogens.The characteristics of these microorganisms, their method oftransmission and treatment, and other details relevant to aclinically based understanding of these microorganisms arepresented.Parts III and IV review basic and clinical virology. Thefirst chapters deal with viral structure, replication and genet-ics, pathogenesis, and host defenses, as well as laboratoryMicrobiologíae inmunologíamédicasWARREN LEVINSON2006, McGraw-Hill/Interamericana,Madrid, Spain700 pp, 18.5 × 23 cm Price: € 71.97ISBN: 84-481-4540-2diagnosis, antiviral drugs, and vaccines. This is followed bya more detailed classification and description of the mainviruses affecting humans. Viruses can be classified accordingto different criteria: the host cell they infect, the geometricalshape of their capsid, or—as in this textbook’s case—viralstructure, i.e., the presence or absence of an envelope and thenature of the virus’ genetic material, either DNA or RNA.Levinson also provides separate chapters with thorough andup-to-date information on hepatitis and the human immunod-eficiency (HIV) viruses, prions, and oncoviruses (Levinson isthe well-known author of many research and review articleson these topics). Part V, “Mycology”, begins with a description of the maincharacteristics of fungi, distinguishing those that cause fun-gal infections, mycotoxicoses, and allergies, from the onescommonly used for industrial purposes (wine, cheese, bread,and beer production). This is followed by a more in-depthdiscussion of the four types of medical mycoses (cutaneous,subcutaneous, systemic, and opportunistic). Parasitology, thestudy of parasites, their hosts and the relationship betweenthem, is the subject of Part VI. The first three chapters dis-cuss the pathogenesis, epidemiology, clinical manifestations,diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of protozoan pathogens(amoebas, ciliates, flagellates and sporozoans), which mostoften affect the host’s blood, several tissues and organs(including the eyes), and digestive and urogenital tracts. Thelast three chapters concentrate on metazoan pathogens (flat-worms or platyhelminthes and roundworms or nematodes).Part VII offers a brief yet comprehensive overview ofimmunology. The interplay between a pathogen and thehost’s defenses is complex. In many cases, disease is causedby the microorganism’s intrinsic virulence, but it can also bethe consequence of the host’s depressed resistance, due togenetic defects, immunosuppressive medications, or primaryillness (e.g., cancer). This section discusses the physiology ofthe human immune system, innate and acquired or adaptiveimmunity, its cellular and humoral components, the majorhistocompatibility complex, the complement system, hyper-sensitivity, autoimmune diseases, immunodeficiency, anti-bodies. The high specificity of the antibody-antigen reactionthat results in disease prevention can also be taken advantageof in the clinical diagnosis of those microorganisms that can-not be cultured, either because the techniques are not avail-able, there is a high risk involved, or the process is too slow.The English original edition of Medical microbiology andimmunology was intended to be used by students preparingfor the USMLE (National Boards: United States MedicalLicensing Examinations) and as a concise reference for thosetaking a microbiology or immunology course in medicalschool. For that reason, the four last parts of the text consist75INT. MICROBIOL. Vol. 10, 2007BOOK REVIEWSof summaries and a study guide. Part VIII is entitled“Summaries of medically relevant organisms”, while Part IXallows the reader to test his or her knowledge through fiftyclinical cases of common infectious diseases that highlightthe most relevant clinical manifestations needed for theirdiagnosis. Parts X and XI consist of over 600 USMLE-for-mat questions and a complete USMLE-style exam with case-based questions. As Vicente Ausina, Professor of ClinicalMicrobiology at the Germans Trias i Pujol Hospital, Bada-lona (Autonomous University of Barcelona, UAB) points outin his prologue to the Spanish edition of the book, these arealso a useful learning tool for Spanish and Latin Americanstudents in the medical sciences and laboratory technicians asthey provide an efficient format for testing one’s knowledgeof infectious diseases and of the clinical applications ofmicrobiology and immunology to their diagnosis and treat-ment. Microbiología e inmunología médicas, the Spanishversion of the book’s eighth edition, has been translated by ateam of experts in bacterial molecular genetics and microbi-ology, under the excellent guidance of Isidre Gibert, from theInstitute for Biotechnology and Biomedicine, UAB. One ofLevinson’s goals was “to provide students who are presentlytaking medical microbiology courses with a brief and flexi-ble source of information.” The book offers the reader awealth of knowledge in a concise format thanks to clear,interesting, and up-to-date presentations; summaries of themost important aspects of the main microorganisms—whichhave also been classified according to their pathogenicimportance; tables, figures, and diagrams containing the mostrelevant information; and finally, multiple choice questionsand practical cases intended for self-testing.NICOLE SKINNERINTERNATIONAL MICROBIOLOGYnskinner@iec.catFood microbiology.Fundamentals andfrontiers. 3rd edn.MICHAEL P. DOYLE,LARRY R. BEUCHAT (eds)2007. ASM Press, Washington,DC, USA1038 pp, 22 × 28.5 cmPrice: US$ 169.95ISBN 978-1-55581-407-6Uncontrolled and unwanted microbial growth destroys vastquantities of food, causing significant losses both economi-cally and with respect to nutrient content. Moreover, the con-sumption of food contaminated with particular microorgan-isms or microbial products can also cause serious illness,such as food-mediated infections and food poisoning. Everyminute, there are over 50,000 cases of gastrointestinal ill-nesses, and many individuals, especially children, die fromthese infections. The most important preventive measures areaimed at the continuing development and implementation ofeffective interventions to improve the overall safety of foods.The third edition of Food microbiology. Fundamentals andfrontiers will contribute significantly to detecting, and per-haps even to solving, the problems arising from food contam-ination and spoilage.Food microbiology offers updated and detailed scientificinformation on food microbiology. The book is organized inten major sections, five of which focus on food-bornemicroorganisms. Each section consists of a detailed study ofa food-borne microbe: pathogenic bacteria, molds and yeast,viruses, prions, and parasites. The microbial diversity foundin food is well-illustrated by the four cover photographs of afungus, a virus, a protist, and a bacterium. Although the maintopic discussed is microbial food-pathogens, the book alsocovers other important aspect of food microbiology, such asfood ecosystems and measures to prevent and control food-borne disease microorganisms. This third edition also intro-duces several completely new chapters on foodborne patho-gens, biodefense, antimicrobial resistance, and advanced mole-cular techniques in food microbiology.Section I, Factors of special significance to food microbi-ology, examines several different topics. In the first, foodecology, the authors point out the differences between thecontamination of food by microbes vs. chemical contamina-tion. Microbes change in number (“concentration”) withtime, as long as the growth conditions are favorable.Microbial growth in foods is a complex process governed by

Microbiología e inmunología médicas

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Microbiología e inmunología médicas

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