Ninth edition. Edited by Leslie Collier, with Albert Balows and Max Sussman. 5409 pp. in six volumes, illustrated. London, Arnold, 1998. (Distributed by Oxford University Press, New York.) $1,170. ISBN 0-340-614706.
Throughout the history of modern medicine, knowledge of microbiologyhas underpinned our understanding of diseases and our strategiesfor treating them. The emergence of AIDS over the past 15 yearshas underlined the fact that infectious diseases remain a majorthreat, and today they account for one third of deaths worldwide.Even in developed countries such as the United States, the prevalenceof infectious disease in general is rising, mainly because ofAIDS and nosocomial infections. I estimate that more than 100new pathogens have been identified in the past 200 years. Newpathogens continue to be identified, occasionally in . . . [Full Text of this Article]
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