Emerging Infections

Editors: R.M. Krause, A.S. Fauci, J. Gallin (1998)

Contents

• tuberculosis & cholera
• Escherichia coli O157:H7
• group A streptococcal diseases
• influenza & dengue fever
• Lyme disease
• HIV infection
• hantaviral diseases
• Ebola virus infections
• transmissible spongiform encephalopathies
• new parasitic protozoa
• NEW arthropod-borne pathogens
• antibiotic resistance in bacteria
• analytic theory of epidemics
• Within-host immunity
• herd immunity
• heterogeneity in transmission
• evolution of resistance

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Book review

Review author: Ellie E. Schoenbaum, M.D. of the Montefiore Medical Center, New York

Emerging Infections is the first of a new series entitled Biomedical Research Reports created to address topics of broad clinical and social import. This book is a collection of in-depth reports by leading researchers on major emerging infections.

The chapters that follow cover tuberculosis, cholera, Escherichia coli O157:H7 infections, group A streptococcal diseases, influenza, dengue fever, Lyme disease, HIV infection, hantaviral diseases, Ebola virus infections, malaria, transmissible spongiform encephalopathies, and new parasitic protozoa and arthropod-borne pathogens. Discussions of antibiotic resistance in bacteria and analytic theory of epidemics merit separate chapters.

The excellent chapter on the analytic theory of disease takes the willing reader through increasingly complex mathematical models of disease transmission that use findings from studies of disease transmission and pathogenesis. In the process, principles of disease transmission are presented in rich detail, providing a foundation for the chapters to come.

Within-host immunity, herd immunity, heterogeneity in transmission, and the evolution of resistance are among the various topics discussed. These themes recur throughout the book as they relate to the specific diseases. The review concludes that a recurring theme of many chapters is that infections reemerge in areas where control measures transiently succeed in reducing the incidence of disease. Programs of eradication can lead to a decrease in herd immunity over time.

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