An Atlas of the Clinical Microbiology of Infectious Diseases, Volume 1: Bacterial Agents

The 160-page book An Atlas of the Clinical Microbiology of Infectious Disease is a rich compilation of excellent photomicrographs that can aid the clinical microbiologist both on and off the bench. Volume 1 concentrates on several organism groups, such as gram-positive organisms (branching and nonbranching organisms as well as catalase-negative and catalasepositive organisms), gram-negative organisms, anaerobes, curved and spiral species, and intracellular bacterial species, to name a few. The photomicrographs can be used as an important adjunct reference for organisms both frequently and infrequently encountered in the clinical laboratory. In addition to Gram stains and pictures of colony morphology, the book also includes clinical photographs of patients with manifestations of the respective disease. This is a nice supplement for laboratorians who are not exposed to the clinical picture of a certain disease and never see the patient. The book could also be used as supplemental information for physicians, because of the inclusion of clinical patient photomicrographs. For physicians who interact more frequently with laboratory personnel, the Gram stain pictures would be useful when reviewing Gram stains with the laboratory personnel. The text also includes some histology slides, which are useful as well. A few of the photomicrographs at various places in the text were perhaps too dark. If another edition of the text is planned, I would recommended lightening some of these photomicrographs. The text describing each organism is fairly well organized throughout the book, but there were a few inconsistencies regarding topics such as infection control, which was mentioned for some organisms but not for others. A few key features of some microorganisms were omitted, but if this text is used to supplement other clinical microbiology texts, then it could be a very good resource for the clinical microbiologist and clinician. The text is somewhat outdated with respect to inclusion of newer tests for organisms such as Treponema pallidum and Bartonella species. If another edition of the text is planned, these sections should be updated. The text mentions sniffing cultures and the handling of Brucella cultures with positive results. Even though this organism is infrequently encountered in the clinical laboratory, more emphasis should be placed on the importance of not sniffing cultures and of handling gram-negative cocco-bacilli using biohazard conditions early on, to prevent laboratory-acquired infection, which can be common with Brucella species. There was one error in the text that occurred in a description of a photo of mice inoculated with toxigenic and nontoxigenic Escherichia coli. Overall, the text is rich in wonderful photomicrographs that can be used as a quick reference on the bench for Gram stains and colonial morphology of bacteria. The text also contains some specific clinical and laboratory information about each organism and the disease each one causes, giving the reader a nice summary of each agent. The book contains a good amount of information on each organism, but it is by no means inclusive of all the biochemical or clinical manifestations of certain agents. The pictures of clinical patient are very nice and give a good representation of some of the clinical manifestations caused by specific agents. At the end of the book, there is a useful list of references to which the reader can turn for additional information.