Communicable and Infectious Diseases

The first edition of Top's Communicable and Infectious Diseases was published when the only chemotherapeutic agents for the treatment of bacterial infections consisted of the arsenicals and sulfonamides. The necessity for the subsequent editions, spanning the antibiotic era, clearly illustrates that the need for a handy source of information about infectious diseases has not been obviated by the excessive use of numerous potent antibiotics. The 4th edition reviews the essentials of the etiology, epidemiology, host response, and the clinical and therapeutic features of most infectious diseases. A large portion of the book is devoted to infections which have been classically and historically important. Without question, the potential hazard of diseases such as typhoid, diphtheria, and smallpox continues. The pressing modern problem of infections caused by the so-called "bacterial opportunists" is becoming increasingly important. Inclusion of a chapter devoted exclusively to superinfections by fungi and the enteric bacteria would considerably increase