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Medical microbiology, lecture notes
Journal of Hospital Infection (1997) 37, 79-80
Book Reviews Medical Microbiology, Lecture Notes. TSJ U Desselberger. E13.9.5 ISBN o-632-024461.
Elliott,
JGM
Hastings
&
In the preface to the first edition, it is stated ‘the student will be saved the task of scribbling notes’. In my experience, both in Sheffield and here in Bristol, the students don’t scribble. They sit with blank stares and elevate spoon feeding to an art form. Handouts are de rigour, with the threat of marking you down in their course assessments. So why not offer them a Noddy Guide to Medical Microbiology, and then we could get on and do something really useful. This volume would fit the bill quite nicely, and on the whole is quite sound. However one comes across a few irksome Typo’s such as MSOs (MLSOs), items that rattle one’s idiosyncrasies. perinasal (pernasal) schistsoma (schistosoma) and a particular problem with Enterobacter chloacae and Enterobacter cholaceae (E. cloacae). In the clinical section the authors mention penicillin and a cephalosporin as treatment for gonorrhoea, but do not comment on the value of the quinolones. As regards meningococcal disease, a mention of the possible value of polymerase chain reaction in making the diagnosis in those patients who have already received antibiotics from the GP, would have been helpful. This would have also demonstrated that microbiologists are attempting to escape the clutches of Gram and crawl out of the Petri dish-albeit not very far. Similarly, why not a picture of a BACTEC or BacTAlert system when showing an example of blood cultures, instead of the two lonely bottles looking as if they had just met on Blind Date. In the antibiotic section, much more space is devoted to sulphonamides than quinolones. Perhaps this is for historical reasons, but this is the third edition. There is no mention of the dramatic impact Hib vaccine has made on the incidence of Hib meningitis, in those countries using the vaccine. In their introduction the three authors give thanks to a pharmaceutical company for an educational grant. Is this yet another volume you can expect to be offered by the reps (in this case Glaxo Wellcome) next time they call? Finally, the authors perpetuate the myth of ‘coliforms’. A unique British invention, it was once described by an eminent UK microbiologist, before a large international audience as ‘little pink jobby things growing on MacConkey agar’. The trouble was he was serious. Public Health Laboratory, Level 8, Bristol Royal InJirmary, Marlborough Street, Bristol BA2 SHW, UK
R. C. Spencer
0195-6701/97/090079+02
0 1997 The Hqntal
$12.00/O
79
Infectron
Samty
Book Reviews Medical Microbiology, Lecture Notes. TSJ U Desselberger. E13.9.5 ISBN o-632-024461.
Elliott,
JGM
Hastings
&
In the preface to the first edition, it is stated ‘the student will be saved the task of scribbling notes’. In my experience, both in Sheffield and here in Bristol, the students don’t scribble. They sit with blank stares and elevate spoon feeding to an art form. Handouts are de rigour, with the threat of marking you down in their course assessments. So why not offer them a Noddy Guide to Medical Microbiology, and then we could get on and do something really useful. This volume would fit the bill quite nicely, and on the whole is quite sound. However one comes across a few irksome Typo’s such as MSOs (MLSOs), items that rattle one’s idiosyncrasies. perinasal (pernasal) schistsoma (schistosoma) and a particular problem with Enterobacter chloacae and Enterobacter cholaceae (E. cloacae). In the clinical section the authors mention penicillin and a cephalosporin as treatment for gonorrhoea, but do not comment on the value of the quinolones. As regards meningococcal disease, a mention of the possible value of polymerase chain reaction in making the diagnosis in those patients who have already received antibiotics from the GP, would have been helpful. This would have also demonstrated that microbiologists are attempting to escape the clutches of Gram and crawl out of the Petri dish-albeit not very far. Similarly, why not a picture of a BACTEC or BacTAlert system when showing an example of blood cultures, instead of the two lonely bottles looking as if they had just met on Blind Date. In the antibiotic section, much more space is devoted to sulphonamides than quinolones. Perhaps this is for historical reasons, but this is the third edition. There is no mention of the dramatic impact Hib vaccine has made on the incidence of Hib meningitis, in those countries using the vaccine. In their introduction the three authors give thanks to a pharmaceutical company for an educational grant. Is this yet another volume you can expect to be offered by the reps (in this case Glaxo Wellcome) next time they call? Finally, the authors perpetuate the myth of ‘coliforms’. A unique British invention, it was once described by an eminent UK microbiologist, before a large international audience as ‘little pink jobby things growing on MacConkey agar’. The trouble was he was serious. Public Health Laboratory, Level 8, Bristol Royal InJirmary, Marlborough Street, Bristol BA2 SHW, UK
R. C. Spencer
0195-6701/97/090079+02
0 1997 The Hqntal
$12.00/O
79
Infectron
Samty