Tapeworms, Lice, and Prions: A compendium of unpleasant infections

by David Grove

Overview

An extraordinary array of infectious agents affects humans; from worms, arthopods, and fungi to bacteria, viruses, and prions. In this compendium of the curious and fascinating organisms that cause disease, including Legionnaire's disease, mumps, CJD, and chlamydia, David I. Grove provides a lively, fact-filled account of the nature of each organism, their life cycle, the ingenious ways in which they infect humans, and the human stories behind their discovery.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780191653452
Publisher:	OUP Oxford
Publication date:	12/19/2013
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	544
File size:	30 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

David Ian Grove graduated in medicine and surgery from the University of Adelaide in 1967, and was later awarded the degrees of doctor of medicine by that university and doctor of science by the University of Western Australia. He has a diploma in tropical medicine and hygiene from the University of Sydney and is a Fellow of both the Royal Australasian College of Physicians and the Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia. He has worked in Australia, Papua New Guinea, the USA, the Philippines and the UK. For the 18 years prior to his retirement, he was director of the department of clinical microbiology and infectious diseases at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Woodville, South Australia and clinical professor of microbiology and of infectious diseases in the University of Adelaide. He has written over 190 original articles and chapters in books, edited Strongyloidiasis: A Major Roundworm Infection of Man and written the acclaimed A History of Human Helminthology.

Table of Contents

Infection: the search for its causesWorms1. Ascaris - the giant intestinal roundworm2. Tapeworms3. Hookworm anaemia4. Schistosomiasis (sometimes called Bilharziasis)5. Filariasis (elephantiasis)Arthropods6. Lice (pediculosis)7. The itch (scabies)Fungi8. Tinea (ringworm etc)9. Candida (thrush)Protozoa10. Giardiasis11. Amoebic dysentery and liver abscess12. Malaria13. Sleeping sickness (African trypanosomiasis)14. Cutaneous leishmaniasis (Oriental sore) and visceral leishmaniasis (kala azar)15. Chagas' disease (South American trypanosomiasis)Bacteria16. The germ theory of disease17. Anthrax18. Tuberculosis (consumption)19. Leprosy (Hansen's disease)20. The golden staphylococcus21. The streptococcus and post-streptococcal disorders22. The pneumococcus and pneumonia23. Gonorrhoea (the clap)24. Syphilis (the pox)25. The meningococcus and meningitis26. Diphtheria27. Whooping cough (pertussis)28. Cholera29. Typhoid fever30. Escherichi coli31. Shigella (bacillary dysentery)32. Tetanus (lockjaw)33. Plague (the Black Death)34. Brucellosis (undulant fever)35. Legionnaires' disease36. Helicobacter pylori and peptic ulcers37. Typhus38. Chlamydia (urethritis and trachoma)Viruses39. The discovery of viruses and determination of their nature40. Smallpox41. Rabies42. Yellow fever43. Dengue fever (break-bone fever)44. Poliomyelitis (polio)45. Measles (rubeola)46. German measles (rubella)47. Mumps48. Varicella (chickenpox and shingles49. Herpes simplex (cold sores and more)50. Glandular fever (infectious mononucleosis)51. Influenza (the flu)52. Viral hepatitis (A, B, and C)53. HIV and AIDSPrions54. Kuru, Mad cows and variant Creutzfeldt-Jacob DiseaseIX. Unde venis et quo vadis?ReferencesGlossary and pronunciationFurther readingPerson IndexSubject index

Editorial Reviews

Reviewer: Joseph R. Lentino, MD, PhD (Loyola University Stritch School of Medicine)
Description: Not your standard textbook, this is a compilation of fascinating short stories about the field of infectious diseases that also manages to be a history lesson.
Purpose: The purpose is to relate the importance of small steps in the discovery of large facts. The author never exactly states his purpose for writing the book. Rather, he notes that the accumulation of knowledge in this area didn't just happen, it occurred because of the diligence of those scientific forefathers, both men and women, with imagination and the dedication to solving problems as they saw them.
Audience: The book is easy to read, so that students from high school on up can learn both microbiology and history. It is not a typical textbook jammed with facts and figures, it is a series of stories relating the discovery of a new organism, the diseases associated with that organism, and the who, how, when, and where it came to be known. This makes the material accessible to the general public as well as to scholars.
Features: The book covers the field of clinical infectious diseases, its relationship to basic microbiology, and the history behind the people involved in the development of this area of knowledge. The author's writing style draws readers into the subject with an inviting narrative about each organism. One has to be curious about history as well as medicine to read this book and be satisfied in the end.
Assessment: I hope this is not the last edition, for the stories in here are timeless, and they can be supplemented with new ones in future editions. Both high school and, certainly, college students can benefit from this book. However, I fear the title will not appeal to most of the lay public, which is a pity because nonmedical readers need to know how diseases are spread and about the utility of vaccines.

Doody's Review Service

"Taken together these chapters add up to a testament to some quite terrifyingly crazy scientists who had to prove how a parasite worked to a doubting, if not scornful, medical establishment by wilfully infecting themselves. It is their stories and their geeky, un-used-to-the-limelight faces that light up this book." —The Times, London, United Kingdom

"I hope this is not the last edition, for the stories in here are timeless, and they can be supplemented with new ones in future editions. Both high school and, certainly, college students can benefit from this book." —Joseph R. Lentino, M.D., Ph.D, Doody's Health Sciences Book Review

"This book will be a great read for biologists interested in the history of infectious disease." -Quarterly Review of Biology

"The author is to be congratulated on a substantial body of knowledge presented in a largely engaging manner." —The Biologist

From the Publisher