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Book Review
Infections of Leisure, 3rd
ed.
David Schlossberg, editor
ASM Press, Washington, DC, 2004
ISBN: 1-55581-299-6
Pages: 444; Price: US $59.95
Suggested
citation for this article
If you have ever thought about spending more time away from work, here
is a book that could help change your mind. Infections of Leisure provides
a detailed survey of the infective hazards associated with a wide range
of human leisure activities and pursuits, from lazing on a beach to relaxing
in a spa, dining out, or simply staying home and doing the gardening.
Now in its third edition, this book covers infections linked to salt
and freshwater activities, camping and the outdoors, gardening, contact
with animals, eating, foreign travel, sports, sexually transmitted diseases,
body piercing, tattooing, and trekking to high altitude. The menu of topics
is somewhat eclectic, and the balance between them is sometimes uneven,
e.g., 30 pages on diseases associated with "Man's Worst Friend"
(the rat), but only 20 pages on overseas travel. The result is nonetheless
fascinatingly readable, even for the armchair practitioner.
On the subject of rats, I was intrigued to discover that 40,000 human
rat bites are reported annually, and that Rattenbisskrankheit,
or rat-bite fever in its various forms, has been noted clinically for
>2,000 years. Bacterial zoonoses from domestic pets include salmonellosis
from illegally kept turtles (i.e., those measuring <4 inches long).
Both of these conditions have been the subject of recent case reports
in the MMWR (1,2), confirming the continuing topicality
of the book's contents.
There is much to whet the appetite of any connoisseur of bizarrely named
syndromes, from "toxic sock" syndrome (pitted keratolysis caused
by Corynebacterium in athletes) to "hot-foot" syndrome
(plantar Pseudomonas folliculitis associated with abrasive swimming
pool floors). But anyone looking for up-to-date information about more
common conditions, from leptospirosis to Lyme disease, will find plenty
of clear, concise, well-referenced material, contributed by experts in
each field.
Leisure is a precious commodity, and this book remains a useful resource
for anyone interested in knowing more about the pathogens that conspire
against our pursuit of it, from the mundane to the truly outlandish.
Richard Dawood*
*Fleet Street Clinic, London, United Kingdom
References
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Fatal
rat-bite fever—Florida and Wisconsin, 2003. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly
Rep. 2005;53:1198–202.
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Salmonellosis
associated with pet turtles—Wisconsin and Wyoming, 2004. MMWR Morb
Mortal Wkly Rep. 2005;54:223–6.
Suggested citation
for this article:
Dawood R. Infections
of leisure [book review]. Emerg Infect Dis [serial on the Internet]. 2005
Oct [date cited]. Available from http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/EID/vol11no10/05-0828.htm
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