Tick-Borne Diseases of Humans
http://www.100md.com
《新英格兰医药杂志》
It is difficult not to be impressed by the overwhelming accumulation of knowledge summarized in this excellent book. Ticks, irreverently referred to in chapter 1 as "primitive, obligate, blood-sucking parasites," are vectors for an increasing number of diseases. The editors — a physician-scientist (now at the Food and Drug Administration), a physician-epidemiologist from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and a university-based entomologist — have gathered more than 40 experts worldwide to provide the reader with chapters covering tick biology, tick–human interactions at various levels, and more than a dozen diseases. There is an excellent, comprehensive chapter on Lyme disease (termed Lyme borreliosis here for the international community). Ehrlichiosis, anaplasmosis, Rocky Mountain spotted fever, and less-appreciated illnesses such as Colorado tick fever and Crimean–Congo hemorrhagic fever are also well described, together with historical perspectives. Color maps in an atlas section show the worldwide distribution of specific tick species and the diseases they transmit. There are excellent photographs of skin rashes from both common and uncommon infections (e.g., boutonneuse fever), diagnostic blood smears (for babesiosis and relapsing fever), and skin and lymph-node findings in ulceroglandular tularemia. Surprisingly, the book does not display many photographs of the ticks themselves, except for several pages of scanning electron micrographs.
(Figure)
Black-Legged Tick (Ixodes pacificus).
Courtesy of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Chapters on tick biology and on the interactions of these arthropods with both hosts and host pathogens will increase the reader's respect for ticks, which apparently evolved from free-living mites more than 94 million years ago. Fascinating descriptions explain the workings of the tick immune system, the interactions between ticks and human pathogens, and the human response. The impressive composition of tick saliva includes anticoagulants, antibradykinins, and serotonin- and histamine-blocking proteins that help evade host defenses. Ticks are reported to react to such stimuli as host odors, barking of dogs, and shadows. Their life cycles are closely linked with changes in the length of daylight and temperature.
What is missing from this book? Little space is devoted to Southern tick-associated rash illness, a Lyme-disease–like illness that has emerged in much of the south central and southeastern United States. One chapter's attribution of its cause to Borrelia lonestari is now thought to be incorrect for most cases. An ambitious four-page table summarizing clinical manifestations of more than 14 tick-borne diseases has some misleading clues (e.g., it implies incorrectly that anemia is a manifestation of, and that fever is usual in, early Lyme disease). The frequent use of abbreviations throughout the book, including some that appear obscure (e.g., IPM for integrated pest management), will puzzle and annoy some readers. The concise but informative discussion of tick paralysis is hidden in a chapter entitled "The Human Reaction to Ticks," and one must look under "tick toxicoses" to find it in the index. In the otherwise excellent chapter on tularemia, more information on bioterrorism-related aspects of this disease would be appreciated. The color atlas has perhaps too many hematoxylin-and-eosin pathology slides. All things considered, however, these criticisms are minor.
The editors suggest that this book be used by "practitioners, trainees, and students of human and veterinary medicine . . . , public health practitioners, scientists, and students — including epidemiologists, ecologists, and medical entomologists . . . , microbiologists and other laboratory scientists," and hope that "the informed patient and the general public will find much of it accessible." They should be congratulated on providing just such a reference.
Robert B. Nadelman, M.D.
New York Medical College
Valhalla, NY 10595(Edited by Jesse L. Goodma)
(Figure)
Black-Legged Tick (Ixodes pacificus).
Courtesy of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Chapters on tick biology and on the interactions of these arthropods with both hosts and host pathogens will increase the reader's respect for ticks, which apparently evolved from free-living mites more than 94 million years ago. Fascinating descriptions explain the workings of the tick immune system, the interactions between ticks and human pathogens, and the human response. The impressive composition of tick saliva includes anticoagulants, antibradykinins, and serotonin- and histamine-blocking proteins that help evade host defenses. Ticks are reported to react to such stimuli as host odors, barking of dogs, and shadows. Their life cycles are closely linked with changes in the length of daylight and temperature.
What is missing from this book? Little space is devoted to Southern tick-associated rash illness, a Lyme-disease–like illness that has emerged in much of the south central and southeastern United States. One chapter's attribution of its cause to Borrelia lonestari is now thought to be incorrect for most cases. An ambitious four-page table summarizing clinical manifestations of more than 14 tick-borne diseases has some misleading clues (e.g., it implies incorrectly that anemia is a manifestation of, and that fever is usual in, early Lyme disease). The frequent use of abbreviations throughout the book, including some that appear obscure (e.g., IPM for integrated pest management), will puzzle and annoy some readers. The concise but informative discussion of tick paralysis is hidden in a chapter entitled "The Human Reaction to Ticks," and one must look under "tick toxicoses" to find it in the index. In the otherwise excellent chapter on tularemia, more information on bioterrorism-related aspects of this disease would be appreciated. The color atlas has perhaps too many hematoxylin-and-eosin pathology slides. All things considered, however, these criticisms are minor.
The editors suggest that this book be used by "practitioners, trainees, and students of human and veterinary medicine . . . , public health practitioners, scientists, and students — including epidemiologists, ecologists, and medical entomologists . . . , microbiologists and other laboratory scientists," and hope that "the informed patient and the general public will find much of it accessible." They should be congratulated on providing just such a reference.
Robert B. Nadelman, M.D.
New York Medical College
Valhalla, NY 10595(Edited by Jesse L. Goodma)