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Dermatology (contemporary issues in small animal practice. Volume 8)
Br. vel . J. (1989) . 145, 9 1
BOOK REVIEWS BOOK REVIEW
Enrrok : J . N-1 . Rt
Virus Infections of Carnivores
Edited by Max J . Appel Amsterdam : Elsevier Science Publishers . 1987 . 500 pp . $175 . 50/Dfl . 360 . 00 This is the first volume in a projected series of seven intended to cover the viral infections of vertebrates of importance to the veterinary profession . This volume is divided into five sections devoted to the viruses of dogs, cats, ranch animals (mink and ferrets), zoo animals (non-domestic carnivores), and pinnipeds, respectively . A short review on that diagnostician's nightmare, kennel cough, is welcome, even though the topic requires a consideration of the bacterial as well as viral agents associated with this syndrome . Within each section the viruses are considered family by family . This method of treatment inevitably leads to some duplication, since some viruses (e .g . rabies virus) can infect more than one of the animal groups considered, but this has been kept to a minimum . There is a short description of each virus family preceding the chapters on important members of that family . Each chapter is written according to a standard formula under the headings Introduction (including a brief history), Virus properties, Epizootiology, Pathogenesis, Disease signs, Pathology, Immune reaction, Laboratory diagnosis, and Prophylaxis and control . At the end of each chapter there are lists of selected references . "Tight editing has resulted in an overall homogeneity of style which makes the book very easy to read, aided by clear typeface on good quality paper . Since there is relatively little known about the viruses of' pinnipeds and non-domestic carnivores, the chapters on these groups are necessarily compact and rather `bitty' . As the editor wished to present a 'zoocentric' rather than 'virocentric' approach, this is unavoidable until our knowledge of the viruses of these groups of carnivores improves . There are a few omissions which hopefully will be included in a second edition . In parti-
TIER
cular, astroviruses have been isolated from both cats and dogs, and feline herpesviruslike viruses have been isolated from dogs . On the other hand, feline herpesvirus type 2, which is now believed (by some researchers at least) to be an unfortunate laboratory contamination of feline cell cultures with a bovine herpesvirus, has been included . The information contained within the book is reliable, although I suspect that there may be more than a few eyebrows raised by Neils Pedersen's statement that `naturally occurring FCV infection . . . is probably not one of the most important illnesses of kittens' . It seems odd that the short chapter on the newly discovered feline T-lymphotropic lentivirus (FTLV) should be written, not by its discoverer, Neils Pedersen, but by the series editor, Marian Horzinek, who acknowledges the original publication on FTLV by Neils Pedersen et al. together with Pedersen's unpublished observations . This chapter is sure to undergo a massive expansion in the next edition . The series editor states that the target audience for this book includes non-virologists and generalists . I suggest that it will be of interest and practical use to veterinary students, veterinarians in practice, veterinary clinical staff in the universities and even clinically orientated virologists . D . A . H,VRBO1 tt
Dermatology (Contemporary Animal Practice. Volume 8)
Issues
in
Small
Edited by G . H . Nesbitt New York, Edinburgh, London, Melbourne : Churchill Livingstone . 1987 . 332 pp . £37 . 00 The series Contemporary Issues in Small Animal Practice has already established itself as an important force in continuing veterinary
92
BRITISH VETERINARY JOURNAL, 145, I
education . Each volume is devoted to a specialty and is edited by a leading authority in that field . With the attractive and now familiar green and beige covers, bearing the volume number on the spine, each is instantly recognizable as a succeeding issue in a very successful series . Volume 8, on dermatology, is edited by Dr Gene Nesbitt whose name will already be familiar to many British practitioners as author of the textbook Canine and Feline Dermatology: A Systematic Approach. He is joined in this production by 11 American colleagues and by Dr Ton Willemse from the University of Utrecht . The first chapter sets the scene by discussing in detail a diagnostic approach to the skin case . It is followed by eight further chapters on selected areas of canine and feline dermatology . These discuss flea and atopic dermatitis, autoimmune dermatoses, pyoderma, fungal diseases and endocrine, nutritional and feline dermatoses . Thus, the volume reviews important areas of small animal dermatology and the standard of treatment of all subjects is uniformly high . The final two chapters, which are devoted to common small non-domestic animals and to pet birds, are superb . These species have received too little attention from most dermatologists and the information is summarized in a most practical and clinically useful fashion . The book is worth the purchase price for these two chapters alone! Of course, no production is perfect and minor criticisms can be made . Two of the chapters, those on endocrine and feline dermatoses, both of which have only 23 pages of text, might have benefited from being longer . Both have been areas of recent rapid developments and it is a tribute to the authors that they have provided such interesting, informative and detailed contributions in such a relatively small number of pages . In addition, in most chapters, important, non-American sources of reference seem to have been largely ignored, which is disappointing in a book aimed at an international market . The role of this volume is not that of a comprehensive, all disease embracing, standard text . It presents state-of-the-art information on selected areas of clinical veterinary dermatology and it presents it well . It is a must for anyone with more than a passing interest in skin disease . K . L . THOnAY-
Fundamental Techniques in
Veterinary Surgery .
3rd edition C . D . Knecht, A . R . Allen, D . J . Williams & J . H . Johnson London : Bailliere Tindall/W . B . Saunders . 1987 . 349 pp . £23 . 50 This third edition comprises 11 chapters and covers a diverse number of techniques used in both small and large animal surgery . The first chapter deals with surgical instrumentation and draping the patient . The latter seems a little out of place and could have been added to Chapter 4 which deals with the preparation of surgical packs, of the surgeon, gowning, gloving and opening of packs . Instrumentation ranges from the humble scalpel to lasers, with no fewer than 25`of the references at the end of the chapter dealing with lasers in their various forms . This chapter provides the student with sound advice regarding the use of the commoner instruments but there is little detail on orthopaedic instruments . Chapters 2 and 3 deal with sutures and suture patterns . Surgeons inevitably have their personal preferences but it is surprising that the looping lock suture is omitted when describing tendon repair . The chapters continue with wound dressing for small animals and wound dressing for the horse . Both chapters concentrate on bandaging techniques and are liberally illustrated with photographs . Chapter 7 is titled Application of Techniques and contains a mixture of small animal and equine surgical procedures involving both soft tissues and bone . The procedures are presented to demonstrate the use of instruments, sutures, suture patterns and fundamental techniques that are described in the previous chapters . The next two chapters describe casts and splints for small animals and for horses while the penultimate chapter discusses selected small animal surgical procedures . The criteria used for the selection of these procedures is not entirely clear but they range from coeliotomy to pulmonary lobectomy . A soft tissue bias is apparent and the only orthopaedic procedures described are cervical disc fenestration, cranial cruciate repair, femoral head ostectomy and intramedullary pinning . The final chapter deals with cardiopulmonary resuscitation and contains suggestions for a standard emergency kit few practices would aspire to .
BOOK REVIEWS BOOK REVIEW
Enrrok : J . N-1 . Rt
Virus Infections of Carnivores
Edited by Max J . Appel Amsterdam : Elsevier Science Publishers . 1987 . 500 pp . $175 . 50/Dfl . 360 . 00 This is the first volume in a projected series of seven intended to cover the viral infections of vertebrates of importance to the veterinary profession . This volume is divided into five sections devoted to the viruses of dogs, cats, ranch animals (mink and ferrets), zoo animals (non-domestic carnivores), and pinnipeds, respectively . A short review on that diagnostician's nightmare, kennel cough, is welcome, even though the topic requires a consideration of the bacterial as well as viral agents associated with this syndrome . Within each section the viruses are considered family by family . This method of treatment inevitably leads to some duplication, since some viruses (e .g . rabies virus) can infect more than one of the animal groups considered, but this has been kept to a minimum . There is a short description of each virus family preceding the chapters on important members of that family . Each chapter is written according to a standard formula under the headings Introduction (including a brief history), Virus properties, Epizootiology, Pathogenesis, Disease signs, Pathology, Immune reaction, Laboratory diagnosis, and Prophylaxis and control . At the end of each chapter there are lists of selected references . "Tight editing has resulted in an overall homogeneity of style which makes the book very easy to read, aided by clear typeface on good quality paper . Since there is relatively little known about the viruses of' pinnipeds and non-domestic carnivores, the chapters on these groups are necessarily compact and rather `bitty' . As the editor wished to present a 'zoocentric' rather than 'virocentric' approach, this is unavoidable until our knowledge of the viruses of these groups of carnivores improves . There are a few omissions which hopefully will be included in a second edition . In parti-
TIER
cular, astroviruses have been isolated from both cats and dogs, and feline herpesviruslike viruses have been isolated from dogs . On the other hand, feline herpesvirus type 2, which is now believed (by some researchers at least) to be an unfortunate laboratory contamination of feline cell cultures with a bovine herpesvirus, has been included . The information contained within the book is reliable, although I suspect that there may be more than a few eyebrows raised by Neils Pedersen's statement that `naturally occurring FCV infection . . . is probably not one of the most important illnesses of kittens' . It seems odd that the short chapter on the newly discovered feline T-lymphotropic lentivirus (FTLV) should be written, not by its discoverer, Neils Pedersen, but by the series editor, Marian Horzinek, who acknowledges the original publication on FTLV by Neils Pedersen et al. together with Pedersen's unpublished observations . This chapter is sure to undergo a massive expansion in the next edition . The series editor states that the target audience for this book includes non-virologists and generalists . I suggest that it will be of interest and practical use to veterinary students, veterinarians in practice, veterinary clinical staff in the universities and even clinically orientated virologists . D . A . H,VRBO1 tt
Dermatology (Contemporary Animal Practice. Volume 8)
Issues
in
Small
Edited by G . H . Nesbitt New York, Edinburgh, London, Melbourne : Churchill Livingstone . 1987 . 332 pp . £37 . 00 The series Contemporary Issues in Small Animal Practice has already established itself as an important force in continuing veterinary
92
BRITISH VETERINARY JOURNAL, 145, I
education . Each volume is devoted to a specialty and is edited by a leading authority in that field . With the attractive and now familiar green and beige covers, bearing the volume number on the spine, each is instantly recognizable as a succeeding issue in a very successful series . Volume 8, on dermatology, is edited by Dr Gene Nesbitt whose name will already be familiar to many British practitioners as author of the textbook Canine and Feline Dermatology: A Systematic Approach. He is joined in this production by 11 American colleagues and by Dr Ton Willemse from the University of Utrecht . The first chapter sets the scene by discussing in detail a diagnostic approach to the skin case . It is followed by eight further chapters on selected areas of canine and feline dermatology . These discuss flea and atopic dermatitis, autoimmune dermatoses, pyoderma, fungal diseases and endocrine, nutritional and feline dermatoses . Thus, the volume reviews important areas of small animal dermatology and the standard of treatment of all subjects is uniformly high . The final two chapters, which are devoted to common small non-domestic animals and to pet birds, are superb . These species have received too little attention from most dermatologists and the information is summarized in a most practical and clinically useful fashion . The book is worth the purchase price for these two chapters alone! Of course, no production is perfect and minor criticisms can be made . Two of the chapters, those on endocrine and feline dermatoses, both of which have only 23 pages of text, might have benefited from being longer . Both have been areas of recent rapid developments and it is a tribute to the authors that they have provided such interesting, informative and detailed contributions in such a relatively small number of pages . In addition, in most chapters, important, non-American sources of reference seem to have been largely ignored, which is disappointing in a book aimed at an international market . The role of this volume is not that of a comprehensive, all disease embracing, standard text . It presents state-of-the-art information on selected areas of clinical veterinary dermatology and it presents it well . It is a must for anyone with more than a passing interest in skin disease . K . L . THOnAY-
Fundamental Techniques in
Veterinary Surgery .
3rd edition C . D . Knecht, A . R . Allen, D . J . Williams & J . H . Johnson London : Bailliere Tindall/W . B . Saunders . 1987 . 349 pp . £23 . 50 This third edition comprises 11 chapters and covers a diverse number of techniques used in both small and large animal surgery . The first chapter deals with surgical instrumentation and draping the patient . The latter seems a little out of place and could have been added to Chapter 4 which deals with the preparation of surgical packs, of the surgeon, gowning, gloving and opening of packs . Instrumentation ranges from the humble scalpel to lasers, with no fewer than 25`of the references at the end of the chapter dealing with lasers in their various forms . This chapter provides the student with sound advice regarding the use of the commoner instruments but there is little detail on orthopaedic instruments . Chapters 2 and 3 deal with sutures and suture patterns . Surgeons inevitably have their personal preferences but it is surprising that the looping lock suture is omitted when describing tendon repair . The chapters continue with wound dressing for small animals and wound dressing for the horse . Both chapters concentrate on bandaging techniques and are liberally illustrated with photographs . Chapter 7 is titled Application of Techniques and contains a mixture of small animal and equine surgical procedures involving both soft tissues and bone . The procedures are presented to demonstrate the use of instruments, sutures, suture patterns and fundamental techniques that are described in the previous chapters . The next two chapters describe casts and splints for small animals and for horses while the penultimate chapter discusses selected small animal surgical procedures . The criteria used for the selection of these procedures is not entirely clear but they range from coeliotomy to pulmonary lobectomy . A soft tissue bias is apparent and the only orthopaedic procedures described are cervical disc fenestration, cranial cruciate repair, femoral head ostectomy and intramedullary pinning . The final chapter deals with cardiopulmonary resuscitation and contains suggestions for a standard emergency kit few practices would aspire to .