Indian Journal of Medical Microbiology Medknow Publications on behalf of Indian Association of Medical Microbiology ISSN: 0255-0857 EISSN: 1998-3646 Vol. 24, Num. 2, 2006, pp. 154-154

Indian Journal of Medical Microbiology, Vol. 24, No. 2, April-June, 2006, pp. 154

Book Review

Practical manual of medical virology

Ravi V

Department of Neurovirology, NIMHANS, Bangalore - 560 029, Karnataka
*Correspondence Address:Department of Neurovirology, NIMHANS, Bangalore - 560 029, Karnataka, vravi@nimhans.kar.nic.in

Code Number: mb06050

G Sridharan, P Abraham, AM Abraham, R Kannangai, TS Vijaykumar, M Tibbetts
II Edition,
Department of Clinical Virology, 2005, Christian Medical College, Vellore - 632 004, Tamilnadu. Price: Rs. 300.00

This manual is the expanded second edition of its forerunner entitled " Premier Practical manual in classical viral isolation techniques" published earlier by the Department of Clinical Virology, CMC, Vellore. It is indeed a practical manual of immense value to students and younger faculty in Microbiology who are desirous of learning technical aspects of viral diagnostic methods. The authors have done well to include several new chapters which focus on contemporary diagnostic methodology such as molecular techniques while retaining equal emphasis on conventional methods as well. Two chapters in this book are very well written and "a must to read" for all budding and full fledged clinical microbiologists. They are " Understanding laboratory data" and " Quality control in clinical virology laboratory". Both these chapters address some of the weakest links in our routine diagnostic and research work. The inclusion and description of appropriate statistical methods such as the Bland Altman plots and other methods is something you will not find in most of the traditional manuals of virology/microbiology. The chapter on Biosafety is also well written and is very appropriate keeping in view the emergence of a number of newer pathogens. The one aspect that could have been better in the manual is the quality of printing and the quality of illustrations. However, this in no way a reflection on the contents of the manual which in my opinion has tremendous utilitarian value not only for training but in day to day clinical virology practice as well. I would strongly recommend that all institutions and students of medical microbiology possess this wonderful book.

Copyright 2006 - Indian Journal of Medical Microbiology