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Book Review
The Pneumococcus
Elaine I. Tuomanen, Timothy J. Mitchell, Donald A. Morrison, and Brian
G. Spratt, editors
Washington: American Society for Microbiology Press; 2004
ISBN: 1-55581-297-X
Pages: 466, Price: U.S.$115.95
Suggested
citation for this article
Streptococcus pneumoniae, known as the pneumococcus, remains an
important pathogen in spite of advances in medical care. Globally, as
many as 1 million children die of pneumococcal infections each year, nearly
all in developing countries. Pneumococcal disease is also common in children
in industrialized countries, although in those settings nearly all such
deaths occur in older adults or adults with chronic medical conditions.
Given its place near the top of the list of killer bacteria, pneumococcus
is a focus of numerous researchers around the world. A new book, The Pneumococcus,
edited by Elaine Tuomanen et al., is the latest effort to summarize the
state of research on the organism.
The book begins by providing a well-thought-out answer to a basic question—what
is a pneumococcus?—and moves on to chapters on topics ranging from attachment
and invasion of the respiratory tract to vaccine-induced immunity. The
editors are leaders primarily in the areas of molecular biology and pathogenesis,
and the focus of much of the book is on these topics, although issues
such as treatment, carriage, disease in persons with immunodeficiencies,
antimicrobial resistance, and epidemiology are also well covered. The
relatively recent deciphering of several pneumococcal genomes has led
to a new outburst of research activity, aspects of which are summarized
in several of the chapters.
All of the authors are recognized experts in their respective areas.
The foreword by Robert Austrian, a pioneer in pneumococcal microbiology,
disease description, and vaccine work, provides an interesting summary
of the history of major discoveries in the field. While covering many
areas of pneumococcal research, the book is not exhaustive; for example,
issues specific to pneumococcal disease in developing countries are mentioned
only in passing.
The book may be most suitable as a tool for new researchers in the pneumococcal
field, but it may also be useful for medical students, graduate students,
and infectious disease specialists. The level of detail varies among the
chapters, but it is adequate to provide an introduction to each of the
topics covered, and all chapters are thoroughly referenced. Overall, the
editors and writers have done a remarkable job of consolidating the latest
information. The Pneumococcus is an authoritative reference in a rapidly
changing field.
Cynthia G. Whitney*
*Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, USA
Suggested citation
for this article:
Whitney CG. The pneumococcus
[book review]. Emerg Infect Dis [serial on the Internet]. 2005 Feb [date
cited]. Available from http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/EID/vol11no02/04-1010.htm
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