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Book Review
Exotic Viral Diseases: A Global
Guide
Stephen A. Berger, Charles H. Calisher, and Jay S. Keystone
BC Decker, Inc., Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, 2003, ISBN: 1-55009-205-7,
Pages: 252, Price: $29.95
Suggested citation
for this article:
Bell M. Exotic viral diseases: a global guide (book review). Emerg Infect
Dis [serial online] 2003 Oct [date cited]. Available from: URL:
http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/EID/vol9no10/03-0490.htm
Exotic Viral Diseases: A Global Guide by Berger et al. is a small, soft-cover,
252-page handbook organized by disease or disease group. It addresses
55 viral pathogens, including a few broad groupings, such as “New World
hantaviruses.”
Because of increasing travel, which is eroding geographic barriers to
disease transmission, and because of the emergence and reemergence of
uncommon infectious diseases, frontline clinicians are increasingly more
likely to encounter patients with exotic viral infections. The arrival
of West Nile virus and monkeypox virus in North America demonstrates the
potential for importation of unusual viral pathogens.
An 8-page overview of the assessment and evaluation of febrile viral
syndromes precedes a series of four tables listing syndrome complexes,
animal reservoirs, infectious vectors, and routes of infection. The tables
are followed by sections describing each pathogen in alphabetical order.
Each section includes common and generic designations for the virus, reservoirs,
vectors, modes of transmission, incubation periods, “clinical hints,”
“typical therapy,” and geographic distribution of the disease. Concise
subsections provide general information, describe the clinical presentation
and course of the illnesses, and recommend diagnostic procedures and laboratory
biosafety levels. Sections end with a list of additional reading, ranging
from 3 to 22 citations, including journal articles, book chapters, and
electronic citations. In addition to the tables noted above, 10 charts
are distributed throughout the sections, demonstrating disease incidence
during recent decades. The book is indexed and has a 10-page appendix
of drugs and vaccines and a 5-page appendix of diagnostic tests. It has
no illustrations. An accompanying mini-CD ROM contains the same material
as the printed edition.
Though the handbook’s coverage of topics is superficial, its format makes
this a useful quick reference, for example, as a reminder for clinicians
assembling differential diagnosis lists for a febrile viral syndrome.
The vector and syndrome tables are handy, and the disease descriptions
contain sufficient information for preliminary consideration. However,
this is not an exhaustive guide for clinical care and, as pointed out
by the authors, does not obviate consultation of a more substantial reference
or an expert in the management of a specific disease. Limited attention
is given to isolation and infection-control recommendations. The CD ROM
is a convenient feature, for example, for field use; however, more informative
disks that accompany larger virology texts would probably have greater
utility in such a setting.
Michael Bell*
*Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, USA
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