Journal of Hospital Infection 75 (2010) 148
Available online at www.sciencedirect.com
Journal of Hospital Infection
journal homepage: www.elsevierhealth.com/journals/jhin
Book Review
Oxford handbook of infectious diseases and microbiology
E. Torok, E. Moran, F. Cooke (Eds.). Oxford University Press, 2009.
pp 916, ISBN: 978-0-19-856925-1, flexicover £32.95, US$59.95
Merging of boundaries of infection-related specialties in many
UK centres was heralded in the last decade by joint specialist
training in medical microbiology, virology, infectious diseases,
genitourinary medicine and general medicine. After this training,
Drs Torok, Moran and Cooke have generated a handbook which
reflects a multidisciplinary approach to the management of infec-
tion reflecting both their hands-on skills in laboratory diagnosis
and clinical management of a plethora of infections.
Written in the style of the Oxford handbooks which most recent
UK medical graduates have grown up with, it is both comprehen-
sive yet succinct, and will be useful in the ward doctors’ room,
nurses’ station, laboratory reporting room or on the benches. Being
well indexed and referenced, information is readily accessible with
the fundamentals required for diagnosis and management distilled
into one or two pages in well-categorised sections such as anti-
microbials, systematic microbiology, infection control and clinical
syndromes. It is a tremendous resource for exam preparation and
is highly relevant for medical finals, FRCPath in medical micro-
biology and virology, MRCP or DTMH. (The conciseness and clarity
of the antimicrobial section has already proven a hit with allied
doi:10.1016/j.jhin.2009.12.011
health professional colleagues embarking on training in non-
medical prescribing.)
In a field as rapidly changing as infection management, this
resource is in danger of losing its relevance quite quickly. This is
most apparent in the infection control section where there is no
mention of standard precautions (although all its aspects are
addressed) but reference instead to outdated universal precautions.
The role of infection control in patient safety is not mentioned.
Outbreak management covers less than a page and although factu-
ally correct and reproducible as bullet points for a short notes ques-
tion in an exam, is of little practical assistance if faced with an
infectious disease outbreak.
Nevertheless, the organism summaries in the systematic micro-
biology section are highly relevant to the non-specialist faced with
a laboratory report of an obscure organism, and the step-by-step
instructions for the management of frequently mismanaged condi-
tions such as prosthetic joint infection are a joy to read.
It is both comprehensive and as relevant to today’s infection
specialists as it is to medical students and recent graduates, and
is to be recommended as a timely additional resource in the Oxford
handbook series.
D. Inverarity
Department of Microbiology, Monklands Hospital,
Monkscourt Avenue, Airdrie, Lanarkshire, UK
E-mail address: donald.inverarity@lanarkshire.scot.nhs.uk