A new book about most important infectious diseases worldwide will be available soon in Garland Science publishing house (Taylor & Francis Group, New York and London). “Case Studies in Infectious Disease” - edited by Peter Lydyard, Michael Cole, John Holton, William Irving, Nino Porakishvili, Pradhib Venkatesan and Kate Ward, presents forty case studies featuring the most important viral, bacterial, fungal and parasitic infectious agents occurred in humans worldwide: Aspergillus fumigatus, Borellia burgdorferi, Campylobacter jejuni, Chlamydia trachomatis, Clostridium difficile, Coxiella burnetti, Coxsackie B virus, Echinococcus spp., Epstein-Barr virus, Escherichia coli, Giardia lamblia, Helicobacter pylori, Hepatitis B virus, Herpes simplex type 1, Herpes simplex type 2, Histoplasma capsulatum, Human immunodeficiency virus, Influenza virus, Leishmania, Leptospira, Listeria monocytogenes, Mycobacterium leprae, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Neisseria gonorrhoea, Neisseria meningitidis, Norovirus, Parvovirus, Plasmodium, Respiratory syncytial virus, Rickettsia spp., Salmonella typhi, Schistosoma, Staphylococcus aureus, Sterptococcus mitis, Streptococcus pneumoniae, Sterptococcus pyogenes, Toxoplasma, Trypanosoma, Varicella Zoster virus, Wuchereria.
All practicing physicians know that the most efficient way to learn about diseases and diagnosis is to practice. This involves taking histories, examining patients, planning investigations and having discussions with colleagues in order to improve the clinical skills. Medical students also learn in this way, but there are constrains of time. For such a reason, these kinds of approaches - like the reviewed book, are really very helpful for students and medical doctors in training. The aim of such case studies is to challenge, instruct and offer to the students an updated easy to read information presented in an appropriate and attractive manner. This book isn’t a substitute for clinical experience but should enable the medical students and young physicians in training to refine their clinical skills and theoretical knowledge in an efficient, time-saving and relatively painless manner.
Each case is presented in an interactive manner, the description of case history being followed by answers to five core questions about all topics of the discussed disease:

• What is the causative agent, how does it enter the body, and how does it spread within the body and from person to person?
• What is the host response and what is the disease pathogenesis?
• What is the typical clinical presentation and what complications can occur?
• How is the disease diagnosed, and what is the differential diagnosis?
• How is it managed and prevented?

Each case has multiple-choice questions for self-testing with the answers given in the end of the book and a complete set of references, suggestions for further reading, and a list of important websites. Almost 300 relevant illustrations successfully completed the text, schemes and charts, emphasizing the main features of the causative agents, clinical signs or lesions. A comprehensive glossary allows rapid access to the microbiology and medical terms highlighted in bold in text.
I strongly recommend this book to all medical students, clinical microbiology and infectious disease residents as a useful guide for their training and to general practitioners who want to remember in an easy way the principal features of human infectious diseases.