ISSN: 1080-6059
Volume 15, Number 7–July 2009
Book Review
Emerging Infections in Asia
Yichen Lu, Myron Essex, Bryan Roberts, editors
Springer, New York, NY, USA, 2008
ISBN: 978-0-387-75721-6
Pages: 250; Price: US $89.95
Suggested citation for this article
Emerging Infections in Asia comprises a selection of scientific and historical review chapters on a variety of infectious diseases and includes contributors from diverse locations ranging from Saudi Arabia to Australia. The book arose from the editors' experience with the emerging infections described and from their professional associations with the other contributors. The book is divided into 3 disease-specific sections that focus on avian influenza, severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), and HIV/AIDS, respectively; a fourth section contains short reviews of other infections. Because of the relatively small size of the book for such a broad topic (250 pages), each section covers only a few specific topics for each selected disease.
The book contains some well-written reviews and valuable narrative histories that are important to document (e.g., the 2003 SARS outbreaks in Singapore and Taiwan). The chapters on SARS in animals and emerging paramyxoviruses are particularly interesting, and the book includes topics (e.g., Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus) that are often overshadowed by more glamorous emerging infections. However, it is disappointing in that the first 2 chapters contradict one another on the occurrence of person-to-person transmission of influenza virus A (H5N1), and the chapter on SARS in China could have been improved with more rigorous editing. Most chapters appear to have been written around 2006, and although they provide good snapshots of the state of knowledge at that time, readers will need to look elsewhere for more recent developments.
Emerging Infections in Asia also misses an opportunity to pull together the diverse topics and experiences discussed to provide new insights into the emergence of infectious diseases and into responses to the constantly shifting challenge of emerging infections. Recognizing this drawback, the editors say in their preface, "We hope that our book can help readers make their own conclusions and ask more questions." Approached in this context, the book provides an account of the diversity and challenges of emerging infectious diseases in Asia and some informative historical reviews that will be of interest to students exploring this fascinating topic.
Peter Horby 
Author affiliation: Oxford University Clinical Research Unit, Hanoi, Vietnam
Suggested Citation for this Article
Horby P. Emerging infections in Asia [book review]. Emerg Infect Dis [serial on the Internet]. 2009 Jul [date cited]. Available from http://www.cdc.gov/EID/content/15/7/1153a.htm
DOI: 10.3201/eid1507.090450
Please use the form below to submit correspondence to the authors or contact them at the following address:
Peter Horby, Oxford University Clinical Research Unit, National Institute of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, 78 Giai Phong St, Hanoi 000000, Vietnam; email: peter.horby@gmail.com
Please contact the EID Editors at eideditor@cdc.gov
The opinions expressed by authors contributing to this journal do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Public Health Service, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or the authors' affiliated institutions. Use of trade names is for identification only and does not imply endorsement by any of the groups named above.
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