The events of World War II brought tropical medicine into sharp focus and stimulated the appearance of numerous articles and several books on the subject. The author of this volume, like previous authors, also has had difficulty in deciding what diseases to include under the title of "tropical diseases." Thus one observes the omission of the most prevalent one, tuberculosis, and others of importance, such as typhoid and tetanus, but finds the inclusion of tularemia, which the author states is caused by Brucella (sic!) tularensis, seven day fever of Japan, Rocky Mountain spotted fever, Weil's disease, trichinosis and the tapeworm infection due to Diphyllobothrium latum—all nontropical diseases.
There are a number of misleading statements, such as the statement that undulant fever occurs in the southern states of the United States of America, with no reference to its greater frequency in the North Central States, and, with reference to coccidiosis, that