The price ($153.00 Cdn), is no steeper thanthat of many smaller texts, and as the book is packed with a mass of useful information in its 558 pages, one can.
BOOK REVIEWS
Williams ES, Barker IK, eds. Infectious Diseases of Wild Mammals. Iowa State University Press, Ames, 2001, 576 pp, 0-8138-2556-3, US$94.95. t was Sir William Osler who wrote: "To talk of diseases is a sort of Arabian Nights entertainment" (1). Substituting the word "mammals" for "diseases" in no way invalidates Osler's aphorism. Putting the two together in one volume must have made for an interesting problem for the editors, both experts with impeccable credentials. The publisher, the Wildlife Disease Association, which supported the book's preparation, the editors, and the numerous authors are, therefore, to be thoroughly commended for their efforts in bringing out the 3rd edition of Infectious Diseases of Wild Mammals and in achieving it in a format that is both useful and digestible in under a thousand and one nights, although the cumulative time taken to put all the material together was almost certainly a good deal more than that. The book's arrival is not before its time, as everyone working with wildlife has been aching to get their hands on such a volume. As the editors point out, it is almost 20 years since the 2nd edition was published, and a great deal of knowledge has been acquired since then. Two simple examples of such advances spring to mind: Epidemiology has become a discipline in its own right and has played an important role in the understanding of many diseases; and the rapid expansion in nucleic acidbased detection methods, especially the use of the polymerase chain reaction, has changed the way in which many diseases can be accurately diagnosed. Both receive good coverage in this volume. The book is logically divided into 2 main sections, although the prion diseases piggy-back at the end of the virus disease section, which perhaps reflects the fact that there is still debate about these unusual infectious agents. The other section is on bacterial and mycotic diseases. Parasitic diseases, although technically infectious, are dealt with in an entirely separate text, with different editors. The authors upon whom the editors have drawn are experts in their fields and, as such, there is no doubt that this is the most authoritative text on the subject available today. The price ($153.00 Cdn), is no steeper than that of many smaller texts, and as the book is packed with a mass of useful information in its 558 pages, one can hardly complain at just over 27 cents a page. It is also evident that differing weights of emphasis have been put on diseases within the groups, proving, like Orwell's 1984 pigs, that some things are considered more equal than others. These differences no doubt reflect both the current perceived importance of particular diseases and the emergence of new knowledge about some of them since the 2nd edition.
Can Vet J Volume 42, November 2001
COMPTE RENDUS DE LIVRES
Many of the chapters have useful tables, figures, and maps, which add considerable value to the text, and the extensive use of published references is particularly commendable, as it gives those who wish to delve into any given subject a really solid foundation. With such a wealth of detail published in this excellent volume, it is difficult to find fault, except at the level of small details. A few caught my eye. Although, as one might expect, each disease has been discussed according to a template that begins with an introduction followed by a history, progresses through distribution, etiology, epidemiology, pathogenesis, and clinical signs; goes on to pathology, diagnosis and differential diagnosis, immunity, prevention and control, sometimes including treatment, and ends up with public health concerns, domestic animal concerns, and, finally, management implications, these headings are not uniformly laid out throughout the book. In some cases, they are simply not addressed. These are mere matters of uniformity of presentation, and not important when one is reading a particular chapter in order to deal with a specific quest for knowledge, which is how the book is likely to be used. There are one or two errors of omission or typography. In the 10-page chapter on pasteurellosis there is no mention of the published report showing that red deer may not be susceptible to infection by Mannheimia (formerly Pasteurella) haemolytica, because they lack the receptors for the bacterial leukotoxin (2). In the detailed and lengthy chapter on tuberculosis, the authors unfortunately missed a typographical error that has confused the Buffalo Park, which existed at Wainright from 1906 until the onset of the Second World War, with the Elk Island National Park (EINP), which is still in existence: in Table 21.2 they misname the Wainright location as EINP. These inconsistencies and omissions are really minor and the new volume of this important series should become a "must have" for all wildlife professionals and veterinary libraries. I am sure that the book will remain a vital source of information for much longer than the mere 2.74 years that it took Scheherazade to tell her stories and so convince King Shahryar not to kill her.
References 1. Osler W. Counsels and Ideals from the Writings of William Osler. New York: Houghton, Mifflin & Co., 1905, pp 277. 2. Sutherland AD, Burrells C. Interaction of red deer leucocytes with Pasteurella haemolytica leucotoxin. Vet Rec 1991;128:108-109.
Reveiwed by J.C. Haigh, BVMS, MSc, FRCVS, Department of Large Animal Clinical Sciences, Western College of Veterinary Medicine, 52 Campus Drive, Saskatoon Saskatchewan S7N 5B4.
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