Avian Influenza

Forgotten People, Forgotten Diseases is an interesting and highly informative book about the global status of neglected tropical diseases (NTDs). Author Peter Hotez introduces NTDs by describing them in general, their historical importance and global impact, and their shared characteristics. According to Hotez, NTDs are among the most common infections from antiquity and occur in the world’s poorest people. Their distribution and health and economic effects are similar to those of AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis. NTDs, however, are much less well known than these diseases and frequently display high rates of illness but few deaths, promote poverty, and create profound social stigma. 
 
Twelve well-illustrated chapters address the important NTDs, including soil-transmitted helminth infections, schistosomiasis, filariasis, onchocerciasis, trachoma, mycobacterial infections, trypanosomiasis, leishmaniasis, dengue, leptospirosis, and rabies. Hotez discusses what these diseases are, where they occur, and who they affect. The final chapters focus on prospects to prevent and control NTDs and the need for additional advocacy. Hotez emphasizes the need for new safer and more effective drugs, as well as for so-called “anti-poverty vaccines,” which by promoting health will open doors to economic advancement and stability, goals that have been all but impossible in developing countries, largely because of NTDs. 
 
Few people are more qualified to write such a book than Hotez, president of the Sabin Vaccine Institute and a pioneer in hookworm molecular genetics, physiology, immunology, and pathogenesis. This easy-to-read and up-to-date text undoubtedly will prove useful to graduate students, volunteers, advocates, healthcare professionals, and others interested in global health and equality. Forgotten People, Forgotten Diseases is an essential read for every serious student of tropical medicine and global infectious diseases.

Avian infl uenza, caused by infl uenza virus A (H5N1), continues to be a source of outbreaks among avian species and of sporadic human cases that result in a high case-fatality rate. These historically unprecedented outbreaks have raised serious global concerns for both animal health and human health. Signifi cant progress in the research of avian infl uenza has occurred in the past decade, but unanswered questions remain. How does avian infl uenza cross species barriers and acquire transmissibility among humans? How can we minimize the risk of emergence of a pandemic virus? Will subtype H5N1 maintain its virulence in humans when it becomes a pandemic virus? This book helps readers understand what is known and what remains to be known about avian infl uenza.
The book contains 19 articles written by leaders in avian infl uenza research. The authors provide a comprehensive and updated review of current knowledge on avian infl uenza, with particular emphasis on H5N1. The articles cover various aspects of avian infl uenza, including its epidemiology and ecology as well as control strategies for potential outbreaks of avian infl uenza in Asia and Europe. Some articles describe the molecular mechanisms of interspecies transmission and virulence in birds and humans. Both interspecies transmission and virulence are determined by many molecular changes in different genes, but the mechanisms for interspecies transmission and virulence are not completely understood. Other articles address timely and important issues such as vaccine development and antiviral resistance.
All pandemic infl uenza viruses in humans originated from avian infl uenza viruses. Understanding how an avian virus can become a pandemic virus that causes devastating effects on human health is critical. This book is a valuable reference for scientists and public health specialists who work in either animal health or human health. Forgotten People, Forgotten Diseases is an interesting and highly informative book about the global status of neglected tropical diseases (NTDs). Author Peter Hotez introduces NTDs by describing them in general, their historical importance and global impact, and their shared characteristics. According to Hotez, NTDs are among the most common infections from antiquity and occur in the world's poorest people. Their distribution and health and economic effects are similar to those of AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis. NTDs, however, are much less well known than these diseases and frequently display high rates of illness but few deaths, promote poverty, and create profound social stigma.
Twelve well-illustrated chapters address the important NTDs, including soil-transmitted helminth infections, schistosomiasis, fi lariasis, onchocerciasis, trachoma, mycobacterial infections, trypanosomiasis, leishmaniasis, dengue, leptospirosis, and rabies. Hotez discusses what these diseases are, where they occur, and who they affect. The fi nal chapters focus on prospects to prevent and control NTDs and the need for additional advocacy. Hotez emphasizes the need for new safer and more effective drugs, as well as for socalled "anti-poverty vaccines," which by promoting health will open doors to economic advancement and stability, goals that have been all but impossible in developing countries, largely because of NTDs.
Few people are more qualifi ed to write such a book than Hotez, president of the Sabin Vaccine Institute and a pioneer in hookworm molecular genetics, physiology, immunology, and pathogenesis. This easy-to-read and up-to-date text undoubtedly will prove useful to graduate students, volunteers, advocates, healthcare professionals, and others interested in global health and equality. Forgotten People, Forgotten Diseases is an essential read for every serious student of tropical medicine and global infectious diseases. The second edition of this valuable textbook highlights a dynamic specialty that integrates many disciplines. Edited by 5 internationally renowned leaders in travel medicine, the book assembles a fi ne group of authors and chapters. The print version is hard cover and comes with online access that is easy to use and fully searchable. Both versions include useful maps, tables, and fi gures, which can be exported from the online version to PowerPoint presentations to assist in teaching. The online version also links to abstracts of references, allowing readers easy access to the abstracts simply by clicking on linked references.

C. Ben Beard
The book consists of 57 wellorganized chapters that begin with fundamental topics such as epidemiology, travel clinic management and resources, and basic disease prevention. The chapters then progress to more specialized topics such as special hosts (e.g., immunocompromised travelers), special itineraries (e.g., expatriates and persons on expeditions), health problems while traveling, and posttravel care. This edition also features a new chapter on cruise ship travel. The chapters vary greatly in length and content: chapters on jet lag and sun-associated problems are brief; chapters on topics such as immunization of healthy adults are detailed and lengthy (i.e., 36 pages). The immunization chapter covers a large amount of material that is challenging because it addresses international variations in vaccine licensure and guidelines. For instance, tick-borne encephalitis vaccine and cholera vaccine, which are described in this chapter, are available in Europe but not in the United States. However, the global nature of travel medicine necessitates practitioners' knowledge of these vaccines.
As the fi eld of travel medicine matures and its evidence base increases, topics such as environmental aspects of travel, psychological aspects of travel, and travel injuries are gaining greater recognition. If a new edition is considered, additional topics that would be helpful to clinicians include travelers' precautions for eye care (especially regarding certain environmental exposures), breastfeeding among travelers (currently an abbreviated section in a chapter that discusses pregnant travelers), and collaboration among practitioners of travel medicine and public health professionals. Specifi c policies and procedures for travel clinic management could also address the triage of posttravel illnesses.
This book is a comprehensive reference on travel medicine. It is rich in information, pleasant to read, and practical. It has been updated to recommend current best practices in travel medicine. The editors have assembled an excellent textbook, and I recommend it enthusiastically to health professionals interested in this growing specialty. The Public Health Image Library (PHIL), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, contains thousands of public health-related images, including high-resolution (print quality) photographs, illustrations, and videos.

Lin H. Chen
PHIL collections illustrate current events and articles, supply visual content for health promotion brochures, document the effects of disease, and enhance instructional media.
PHIL Images, accessible to PC and Macintosh users, are in the public domain and available without charge.