The third edition of The Microbial Challenge: A Public Health
Perspective addresses the microbial challenges to public health. It has
been extensively updated with the latest data in the field. It focuses
on human-microbe interactions and considers bacterial, viral, prion,
protozoan, fungal and helminthic (worm) diseases. A chapter on
beneficial aspects of microbes makes it clear that not all microbes are
disease producers and that microbes are necessary for the sustenance
of life on Earth. The response of the immune system, concepts of
epidemiology, and measures of control from the individual to the
international level to thwart potentially life-threatening epidemics
are described. The sections on fungi and fungal diseases are new as is
updated information on vaccinations, antibiotic resistant microbes,
practical disinfection information, virotherapy and emerging diseases.