Customer Reviews

Infectious Diseases in 30 Days

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I came across this book randomly in my medical school library and was a bit leary of it because of the title. "XYZ in 30 days" type titles sound hokey to me, but the book itself is anything but.

The main strength of the text is its clear, logical approach in explaining the various infectious disease syndromes. Very straightforward, great summaries of key points every few pages, and insightful, readily understandable diagrams (and good photos). Too many books written for med students present similar material but too heavily from the perspective of basic microbiology (genetics, virulence factors up the ying-yang, research speculations, etc) which is generally NOT useful for medical students (when in excess). We primarily need to know clinical presentation, course of illness, diagnostic criteria, and treatment protocols. For these categories this book is wonderful and hard to beat. It also balances this with the obligatory basic microbiology but it is not in excess and seemingly always clinically relevant.

Let it be known that I would have rated this book higher, had it not been for the frequency of its typographical errors. Its editors and/or authors should try and do a better job in subsequent editions. But that apart, this revisional text accomplishes what it was designed to do. The message of this book is simple, precise, and self-explanatory.
Infectious diseases and their etiologic agents are daunting to study or master, and that is where the beauty of this book comes into play. Despite being a revisional text (on its own right), the authors of this book endeavored to include summarized key-points at the end of every topic they discussed. Thus, the book is an impressive blend of patient care and time management tool.
"Infectious Disease in 30 Days" is a time-efficient book, which covered a wide range of diseases. It is self-instructional, and offers illustrative information without beating about the bush. Its guidance ramified epidemiology, diagnostics, pedagogical tools, and in-depth anti-microbial therapeutics. Every chapter of it makes learning seem effortless; although, a number of topics pertaining to fungal diseases were overtly summarized. Overall, it is a good revisional handbook, which students would appreciate and depend on in time-critical periods.

I am currently a fourth year medical student on an infectious disease rotation. I find this book fairly helpful, notably the first chapter where it pretty much sums up everything you forgot from your microbiology course. The chapters are generally written well, but (as the publishers claim) a lot is really a review. So, if you want a brief overview of HIV/AIDs, this is the text to use, but if you want to know in depth HAART therapy, you might want to try something else. It is a fairly large book, which makes me unenthusiastic to carry around - a minus for those on-the-go medical students. As a supplement (and if you are working a consult service), I found the Washington Manual(R) Infectious Diseases Subspecialty Consult book to be very helpful.

This book is very easy,friendly to read and learn,and covers all areas from Infectology required in General Internal Medicine or primary care..

ME is a common and extremely disabling disease that has been known since the 1980s to be associated with retrovirus infection and b cell lymphomas. It deserves more thorough coverage.

There are three sentences devoted to ME (CFS). Claims antivirals are ineffective. This is based on Stephen Straus' discredited study. Better studies at Stanford and by ME & infectious disease expert Dr. Lerner show significant reductions in morbidity with antivirals. Also states that chronic EBV infection is a serious multi-organ disease that may respond to antivirals. CEBV infection is really just a small subset of ME (CFS) that happened to be triggered by EBV rather than another infection so this is an artificial distinction.

I purchased this to review for my 4th year med school rotation in Infectious Disease and to prepare for my upcomming residency in Internal Medicine. I have read about 3/4 of the book so far and have found it very valuable- relevant, thorough for a general internist, well written and organized. Very clinically oriented.