Prior to the advent of rapid DNA sequencing in the late 90s, students were taught in depth about the physiology and ecology of microorganisms. There was a generally good understanding about the biology of each organism and how it interacted with its environment. Since then, the focus of research has shifted towards an analysis of nucleic acid sequences to determine possible cellular biochemistry or phylogeny. A microbial genome can now be sequenced in a matter of hours, and with the help of a panoply of software programmes the inner workings of the organism can be probed in great detail. However, there is now so much detail that the student or researcher tends to lose any sense of the underlying biology of their study organism. Microbiology has almost become a branch of molecular biology, with the biology getting lost in the molecular detail. This novel text reverses that trend by cutting through the molecular information overload and placing the new sequence-derived information in the context of the natural history of the organism in question. Each concise chapter has a fascinating and different story to tell, focussing on one pathogen or group of closely related pathogens and highlighting a particularly interesting and/or unusual feature. The aim is to abstract the relevant molecular and genomic information, and then to show how it provides insights into the biology of the organism as a whole. Microbiology of Infectious Disease is aimed at undergraduates, graduates, and researchers in microbiology, microbial ecology, disease ecology, and related areas. It is intended as a supplemental text for students to provide them with a detailed overview of the biology and natural history of the microorganisms they will routinely encounter and the factors that influence their pathogenicity and infectivity.
Preface Glossary Part I: An Introduction to the Background Science 1: The role of nucleic acid analysis in understanding infectious diseases 2: Some common factors involved in host-pathogen relations 3: The Three Great Pandemics of Plague Part II: Bacterial Pathogens 4: A Multifaceted Pathogen: Escherichia coli 5: Fever and Food Poisoning: The Two Faces of Salmonella 6: Understanding Pathogen Populations: Klebsiella pneumoniae 7: A Surprising Pathogen: Vibrio cholerae 8: The Accidental Pathogen: Legionella pneumophila 9: Two Related Pathogens, One Ancient and One New 10: Helicobacter pylori and Gastric Ulcers 11: A Tale of Two Pathogens: Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Pseudomonas syringae 12: The Enigmatic Pathogens: Syphilis, Yaws, Pinta, and Bejel 13: Mycobacterial Mysteries: Tuberculosis and Leprosy 14: Plasmids and Pathogenicity: The Bacillus cereus Complex 15: Tracking the Origins of Clostridium difficile Infections 16: Tracking Horizontal Gene Transfer: Staphylococcus aureus 17: The Inadvertent Pathogen: Borrelia burgdorferi and Lyme Disease 18: Phytoplasmas: Bacteria that Manipulate Plants and Insects 19: The Most Influential Bacterium: Wolbachia pipientis Part III: Eukaryotic Pathogens 20: The Ubiquitous Pathogen: Trichomonas vaginalis 21: The Greatest Killer of All Times: The Malarial Parasite 22: An Environmental Opportunistic Pathogen: Cryptococcus 23: The Most Famous Plant Pathogen: Phytophthora infestans Part IV 24: A Virus That Promotes Its Own Transfer: Tomato Spotted Wilt Virus 25: Morbilliviruses: Measles, Rinderpest and Canine Distemper 26: Filovirus Haemorrhagic Fevers: Marburg Virus and Ebola 27: The Origins of HIV and the AIDS Pandemic 28: The Benefits of a Segmented Genome: Influenza 29: Third Time Unlucky: SARS, MERS, and Covid-19 Part V: Some Unifying Themes 30: Zoonotic Diseases 31: Some Common Pathogenicity Themes
Sandy Primrose, MBE is an established author with a number of very successful textbooks to his name which have run to multiple editions. He trained as a microbiologist and then undertook research in virology which led to his first textbook. This was followed a few years later by a major textbook on gene manipulation. After a relatively brief academic career, he transferred to the private sector where he has held a number of senior managerial positions in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries over a 40-year period. He has been an adviser to the Food Standards Agency and Defra, and has recently published his third popular science book. He is currently Chairman of both AMLo Biosciences and Newcells Biotech, as well as Non-executive Director of Attomarker and acting as a consultant to a number of venture capital companies. He also lectures widely on popular science topics to raise money for various charities.
