Bailey & Scott’s Diagnostic Microbiology 14th Edition

Book Preface

This, the fourteenth edition of Bailey and Scott’s Diagnostic Microbiology, is the second edition that I have had the great pleasure to edit and author with some amazing colleagues. The dynamics of infectious disease trends, along with the technical developments available for diagnosing, treating, and controlling these diseases, continues to present major challenges in the laboratory and medical care. In meeting these challenges, the primary goal for the fourteenth edition is to provide an updated and reliable reference text for practicing clinical microbiologists and technologists, while also presenting this information in a format that supports the educational efforts of all those responsible for preparing others for a career in diagnostic microbiology. The text retains the traditional information needed to develop a solid, basic understanding of diagnostic microbiology while integrating the dynamic expansion of molecular diagnostics and advanced techniques such as matrix assisted laser desorption time-of-flight mass spectrometry.

We have kept the favorite features and made adjustments in response to important critical input from users of the text. The succinct presentation of each organism group’s key laboratory, clinical, epidemiologic, and therapeutic features in tables and figures has been kept and updated. Regarding content, the major changes reflect the changes that the discipline of diagnostic microbiology continues to experience. Also, although the grouping of organisms into sections according to key features (e.g., Gram reaction, catalase or oxidase reaction, growth on MacConkey) has remained, changes regarding the genera and species discussed in these sections have been made. These changes, along with changes in organism nomenclature, were made to accurately reflect the changes that have occurred, and continue to occur, in bacterial taxonomy. Also, throughout the text, the content has been enhanced with new photographs and artistic drawings. Finally, although some classic methods for bacterial identification and characterization developed over the years (e.g., catalase, oxidase, Gram stain) still play a critical role in today’s laboratory, others have given way to commercial identification systems. We realize that in a textbook such as this, a balance is needed for practicing and teaching diagnostic microbiology; our selection of identification methods that received the most detailed attention may not always meet the needs of both groups. However, we have tried to be consistent in selecting those methods that reflect the most current and common practices of today’s clinical microbiology laboratories, along with those that present historical information required within an educational program.

Finally, in terms of organization, the fourteenth edition is similar in many aspects to the thirteenth edition, but some changes have been made. Various instructor ancillaries, specifically geared for the fourteenth edition, are available on the Evolve website, including an expanded test bank, updated PowerPoints, additional complex case studies, and an electronic image collection. Student resources include a laboratory manual, review questions with answer key, and procedures.

We sincerely hope that clinical microbiology practitioners and educators find Bailey and Scott’s Diagnostic Microbiology, fourteenth edition, to be a worthy and useful tool to support their professional activities.