Tapeworms, Lice, and Prions A Compendium of Unpleasant Infections

About this book

An extraordinary array of infectious agents affects humans; from worms, arthopods, and fungi to bacteria, viruses, and prions. In this compendium of the curious and fascinating organisms that cause disease, including Legionnaire's disease, mumps, CJD, and chlamydia, David I. Grove provides a lively, fact-filled account of the nature of each organism, their life cycle, the ingenious ways in which they infect humans, and the human stories behind their discovery.

Contents

Infection: the search for its causes

Worms
1: Ascaris - the giant intestinal roundworm
2: Tapeworms
3: Hookworm anaemia
4: Schistosomiasis (sometimes called Bilharziasis)
5: Filariasis (elephantiasis)

Arthropods
6: Lice (pediculosis)
7: The itch (scabies)

Fungi
8: Tinea (ringworm etc)
9: Candida (thrush)

Protozoa
10: Giardiasis
11: Amoebic dysentery and liver abscess
12: Malaria
13: Sleeping sickness (African trypanosomiasis)
14: Cutaneous leishmaniasis (Oriental sore) and visceral leishmaniasis (kala azar)
15: Chagas' disease (South American trypanosomiasis)

Bacteria
16: The germ theory of disease
17: Anthrax
18: Tuberculosis (consumption)
19: Leprosy (Hansen's disease)
20: The golden staphylococcus
21: The streptococcus and post-streptococcal disorders
22: The pneumococcus and pneumonia
23: Gonorrhoea (the clap)
24: Syphilis (the pox)
25: The meningococcus and meningitis
26: Diphtheria
27: Whooping cough (pertussis)
28: Cholera
29: Typhoid fever
30: Escherichi coli
31: Shigella (bacillary dysentery)
32: Tetanus (lockjaw)
33: Plague (the Black Death)
34: Brucellosis (undulant fever)
35: Legionnaires' disease
36: Helicobacter pylori and peptic ulcers
37: Typhus
38: Chlamydia (urethritis and trachoma)

Viruses
39: The discovery of viruses and determination of their nature
40: Smallpox
41: Rabies
42: Yellow fever
43: Dengue fever (break-bone fever)
44: Poliomyelitis (polio)
45: Measles (rubeola)
46: German measles (rubella)
47: Mumps
48: Varicella (chickenpox and shingles
49: Herpes simplex (cold sores and more)
50: Glandular fever (infectious mononucleosis)
51: Influenza (the flu)
52: Viral hepatitis (A, B, and C)
53: HIV and AIDS

Prions
54: Kuru, Mad cows and variant Creutzfeldt-Jacob Disease

IX. Unde venis et quo vadis?
References
Glossary and pronunciation
Further reading
Person Index
Subject index

Customer Reviews

Biography

David Grove has a diploma in tropical medicine and hygiene from the University of Sydney and is a Fellow of both the Royal Australasian College of Physicians and the Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia. He has worked in Australia, Papua New Guinea, the USA, the Philippines and the UK. For the 18 years prior to his retirement, he was director of the department of clinical microbiology and infectious diseases at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Woodville, South Australia and clinical professor of microbiology and of infectious diseases in the University of Adelaide. He has written over 190 original articles and chapters in books, edited Strongyloidiasis: A Major Roundworm Infection of Man and written the acclaimed A History of Human Helminthology.