Over the past 100 years, humanity has benefited enormously from improvements in sanitation and the development of vaccines. Increasingly, those of us who grew up in the developed world lack familiarity with previously common diseases such as measles and polio. Unfortunately, these diseases still exist, and air travel makes the risk of outbreaks very real, which forces doctors to remain aware of their symptoms. Many infectious agents, however, provoke a similar range of symptoms that can make it difficult to diagnose a specific disease. In Harrison’s Infectious Diseases, Kasper and Fauci familiarize readers with a range of diseases, both common and rare, and provide extensive information on the best methodology for diagnosis and treatment.
The book itself is derived from the classic medical text Harrison’s Principles of Internal Medicine, and it contains all the chapters on infectious diseases that appeared in the 17th edition of the original textbook. More than 100 experts contributed to these chapters, but there is no lack of continuity in quality or organization. The book starts with a brief but sufficient introduction to epidemiology and immunobiology. Next, there is an excellent chapter on immunization regimens in the United States and the principles behind immunization. Given the ongoing, though completely unfounded, concerns about vaccine safety, it is vital that doctors have a good understanding of how vaccines work so they can assuage patient concerns. The rest of the book is divided into several sections that focus on the inflammatory response, infections in individual organ systems, and infections generated by different kinds of agents: bacteria, viruses, prions, fungi, and protozoa and helminthes. Of particular note is the chapter on health care-associated diseases, which is an important issue due to antibiotic resistance.
Each chapter follows roughly the same format with highlighted boxes focusing on diagnostic and drug treatment approaches. For those students and ambitious doctors who want to test their knowledge, the book ends with a review and self-assessment of more than 100 questions. Professors could easily divide up these questions for testing periodically over the course of a semester or year and/or they can be used to prepare students for medical exams. Almost all the multiple-choice questions are presented as clinical cases.
Harrison’s Infectious Diseases is necessarily general, but chapters end with further readings, which is a nice feature for those clinicians who want or need a more in-depth understanding of a particular disease. Both aspiring doctors and current clinicians can benefit from this book. It would also be an excellent supplemental textbook for a graduate or upper-level undergraduate pathology course.