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Indian Journal of Medical Microbiology, Vol. 25, No. 3, July-September, 2007, pp. 307 Book Review Medical microbiology Kanungo Reba Professor and Head of Microbiology, P K Medical College and Research Institute, Puducherry - 605 009 Code Number: mb07090 BS Nagoba, Asha Pichare Present medical curriculum for an undergraduate MBBS student is enormous in terms of course content, relying heavily on voluminous text books and didactic lectures. Summative assessment is based mostly on recall memory. Drs. Nagoba and Pichere have attempted to make the process easy for a student taking the second professional examination in Microbiology. The book is divided into units and the sections follow the general pattern of a standard Microbiology text book, which includes general microbiology immunology, bacteriology, virology, mycology and applied or clinical microbiology. Each chapter includes a novel method of series of questions with answers. The answers are short in some instances and elaborate in others. Tables, figures, flow charts have been incorporated in the answers in place of lengthy explanations. Procedures and techniques have been mentioned in points in sequential manner for easy comprehension. Current topics like waste management and techniques like plasma sterilization find a place in their respective chapters. Sections in immunology have been dealt in a similar manner. Various phenomenon and reactions have been made simple with line diagrams for easy reproduction. Leading questions in bacteriology, virology and mycology cover most common infectious agents, with salient features listed by points. The final section of the book wraps up with infectious diseases. Beginning with bacterimia and septicaemia almost all major infections have been dealt with in the question answer model. There are some details which need to be mentioned here for further improvement of the book. Antibiotic susceptibility in the chapter includes the method to determine concentration of antimicrobial agents in blood and body fluids as a susceptibility test. This is not a susceptibility test by routine standards but an assay to determine antibiotic levels in the body. An undergraduate student needs to understand the difference. The percentages mentioned against each organism in the chapter on bacteraemia needs to be reviewed since it varies with age, risk factors and other co-morbid conditions. Lengthy listing of organisms associated with each condition includes the common as well as the uncommon, including agents which are very rarely encountered in the conditions mentioned. A very general procedure for collection and processing of specimen for each systemic infection, has been mentioned. The authors needed to have made distinctions e.g. between processing a sample for pulmonary tuberculosis and lower respiratory tract infection or the culture of various specimens for virus isolation. The student needs to understand these subtle differences for writing an accurate answer or putting knowledge to practice subsequently. The main manual has a bonus free copy of Medical Parasitology prep manual as mentioned on the jacket of the book. This manual also follows the question answer pattern with diagrams, figures and flow charts of all the major parasitic infections. A point to be noted by the authors for subsequent editions is avoiding elaborate technical details which may not be very useful for an undergraduate student and definitely not for a dental or nursing student, as mentioned in the preface. Pictures and photo micrographs adapted from external sources need to be acknowledged in several places in the book. The book is presented in an attractive jacket. Unlike many other similar books published in the past, print and paper quality of this manual is of a very good standard. Elsevier′s publishing house needs to be congratulated for maintaining their high standards. The price of the book however has not been mentioned. It is hoped that it will be within the reach of students, as an addition to the prescribed text book. As the authors have advocated, this book is to be used for revising prior to the standard pattern of examination as is offered by most universities across the country and not to replace a prescribed text book. Copyright 2007 - Indian Journal of Medical Microbiology |
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