Mandell, Douglas and Bennett’s Infectious Disease Essentials, 1e

Book Preface

This handbook is an introduction to Mandell, Douglas, and Bennett’s Principles and Practice
of Infectious Diseases, also known as PPID, which is the detailed, authoritative reference book for the field. The handbook consists of “short view summaries” that introduce 241 of the 324 chapters in the 8th edition of PPID and that appear at the beginning of each chapter in a template format. The summaries are accompanied by tables and figures that illustrate the material contained therein. In addition, this handbook reflects the annual updates that appear in the electronic version of PPID.

The field of infectious disease is undergoing an extraordinary expansion of knowledge, with dramatic advances in diagnosis, therapy, and prevention of infectious diseases, as well as recognition of novel pathogens and diseases. The handbook is intended to provide information on these topics in an easy-to-use form, and to facilitate access to further information as needed. In this regard, the handbook is organized on the same basis as the parent textbook, PPID. Information is presented according to major infectious clinical syndromes, and individual pathogens are addressed in more detail subsequently. Examples of topics in which important new developments have occurred include hepatitis B and C, Ebola, influenza, Clostridium difficile, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), tuberculosis, human immunodeficiency virus, and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS).

We hope this handbook will be a convenient, useful, and current source of information for those interested in infectious diseases, and that it will serve as an introduction to the more detailed and comprehensive material that can be found in the parent text, PPID.

John E. Bennett, MD, MACP
Raphael Dolin, MD
Martin J. Blaser, MD