|
|
Book Review
Manual of Commercial Methods
in Clinical Microbiology
Allan L. Truant
American Society for Microbiology, Washington, D.C., 2002, ISBN: 1-55581-189-2,
Pages: 502, Price: $115.95
Suggested citation for this article: Martin WJ.
Manual of commercial methods in clinical microbiology. Emerg Infect
Dis [serial online] 2003 Jan [date cited]. Available from: URL:
http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/EID/vol9no1/02-0623.htm
During the past 25–30 years, tremendous strides have been made in the
development of various commercial methods designed to simplify the isolation
(in some cases) and the detection or identification (in most cases) of
many different microbes in the laboratory. During these years, the time-honored
conventional test methods have served the overall science of microbiology
well. However, in a clinical microbiology laboratory, speed and accuracy
are essential because the specimen must be processed and the results returned
to the requesting physician by yesterday, if possible. Thus, many of the
commercial methods reviewed in this book were developed mainly for use
in the clinical microbiology laboratory, providing both rapid and accurate
results with a minimum of hands-on use.
To my knowledge, this reference manual is the first resource that covers
all subdisciplines of clinical microbiology. The book contains 18 chapters,
including separate chapters on molecular microbiology, emerging infectious
diseases, information management, and veterinary clinical microbiology,
as well as chapters on bacterial identification and antimicrobial susceptibility
testing, blood cultures, mycology and mycobacteriology, virology, and
parasitology. A chapter on licensure and regulation of commercial products
is also included, which I found helpful. In addition, the book provides
an appendix that lists the manufacturers and distributors for many of
the systems described in the book. The authors include a description of
the sensitivities, specificities, and predictive values of the tests from
peer-reviewed sources. Another chapter of interest focuses on future technology
for the clinical microbiology laboratory. My only suggestion is that future
editions of this text include a chapter on the history of how all these
commercial tests came into being, instead of various authors alluding
to this point in their respective chapters.
Each chapter is well referenced, and many chapters contain tabular material
that is, for the most part, easy to read and understand. The photography
is adequate, although several photographs are blurred and lack clear definition.
Although the intended audience for this book is primarily clinical microbiologists
and other professionals who work in these environments, I suspect that
many physicians, including infectious disease specialists, will find this
book especially valuable when deciding what tests to order for their patients,
especially in light of the high costs of health care.
As with any multi-authored text, some unevenness in the writing is expected.
However, I believe that the overall scope and format of this book are
quite useful, and that readers will find this manual a valuable, comprehensive
source of information. The authors are to be commended for tackling such
an enormous project and successfully presenting it in such a readable
format.
William J. Martin
Tucson, Arizona
|
