Parasitic Disease in Clinical Practice - Tapa dura

Parasitic Disease in Clinical Practice is the sixth monograph to appear in the now established and flourishing Bloomsbury Series in Clinical Science. Written by a distinguished authority in the field, the book gives a comprehensive and detailed description of parasitic infections and their clinical consequences. Such infections are no longer confined to tropical parts of the world and now have a widespread distribution. Rapid advances are being made in understanding their epidemiology and in diagnosing and treating particular infections. Current literature is largely directed to the parasites, their characteristics and their isolation; a clinical review is clearly needed. This has now been provided, for the author's stated objective is to "inculcate a greater awareness, understanding and appreciation of human parastic disease in the minds of all clinicians". London, March 1990 Jack Tinker Preface Homo sapiens has always existed in a finely balanced equilibrium with a great diversity of infective agents, almost all of them of great antiquity. Many must have exerted a profound effect on the evolution of the human genome. While the average physician is usually aware of potentially pathogenic viruses, bacteria (and rickettsia), and to a lesser extent fungi, hislher knowledge of protozoan and helminthic infections is frequently imperfect and often rudimentary.

This book on parasitology, unlike others, is written by a physician with almost three decades of experience in both developed and developing countries and aims to raise the clinician's index of awareness toward these clinically underdiagnosed diseases. The approach is not dominated by taxonomy but is largely system-oriented. Infections covered include those affecting travellers and immigrant groups, opportunistic infections in the immunosuppressed (including AIDS) patient, and several diseases such as toxocariasis, toxoplasmosis and hydatidosis which are still present in temperate country populations. Recent developments in serodiagnosis and chemotherapy receive a great deal of attention. The bibliographies after each of the 12 chapters are extensive and up-to-date.