The Veterinary Journal 2003, 165, 333

doi:10.1016/S1090-0233(02)00137-5

Book Review
Veterinary Microbiology and Microbial Disease
Quinn, P.J., Markey, B.K., Carter, M.E., Donnelly, W.J. and
Leonard, F.C. Oxford, Blackwell Science, 2002. 544 pp. 49:50
(soft) ISBN 0632055251

This text is from Professor Quinn and his colleagues

in the Department of Veterinary Microbiology and
Parasitology of the Irish Republics Veterinary
School. It is aimed at the veterinary students need
to obtain an acceptable familiarity with a pillar on
which veterinary medicine still stands. The work attempts to provide the undergraduate with the microbiological fundamentals required in the core
paraclinical and clinical parts of current veterinary
courses. Others who might also benefit from its
contents are mentioned in the Preface.
The system adopted follows a long-established,
conservative approach, dealing in turn with introductory bacteriology (Section I: seven chapters), the
bacterial genera of veterinary importance and the
diseases with which they are associated (Section II:
29 chapters), followed by a similar, less detailed account of the fungi (Section III: 11 chapters). A
consideration of the basic aspects of virology (Section IV: six chapters) follow, and then, in Section V,
descriptions (23 chapters) of the viral families associated with disease in domesticated animals,
including those attributed to prions. A final, miscellaneous group of eight chapters in Section VI
considers first, the involvement of various microbial
pathogens in the special pathology and clinical
manifestations in some but not all body tracts of
different species of domesticated animals. Other
matters such as disinfection also appear here, along
with a final chapter, rather late, on the central aspects of resistance and immune responses to
pathogens and their products. Emphasis throughout focuses on the state of affairs currently existing
in the British Isles. That does not mean this textbook is relevant or meritorious only in that insular
context. The indexing is good; references and suggested further reading perhaps less so.
To quell students possible feelings of desperation, boxed key facts, summarizing tables and flow
diagrams are used to ease assimilation by the targetted reader trying hard well, anyway, some of
them to acquire the essentials in the diminishing
time available nowadays. The authors rely on simple
1090-0233/03/$ - see front matter

black-and-white drawings to illustrate morphological

features. This approach is justifiable if good practical classes and IT access support the text. The facts,
conceptions, and procedures are throughout explained concisely in a clear, direct English. That
eases acquisition of a daunting amount of information, reflecting the extraordinary advances of the
past 50 years. All the same, no one can envy the task
of the modern veterinary student in coping with so
much in one or two years of an already overcrowded
curriculum.
In dealing with the microbial diseases, the authors
where appropriate provide (brief) descriptions in
turn of habitat(s), pathogenesis and pathogenicity,
clinical infections, diagnosis, treatment and control
of the major veterinary pathogens of international or
public health concern. They link the paraclinical and
the clinical aspects of infectious disease in different
species of domesticated animals evenhandedly; more
exotic species (including farmed fish save in one
chapter) get little attention. Many will contend that
this approach for the veterinary undergraduate
should be modified by reducing descriptions of the
purely microbiological properties of the pathogens
for more detailed emphasis on circumventing their
production of disease.
This textbook is as about as up-to-date and provides about as full and broad a presentation of the
significance of the microbial pathogens in veterinary medicine as can reasonably be expected.
Where and how the microbial pathogens are considered in the undergraduate curriculum have been
debated for half a century. In Britain at least the
preponderance of veterinary graduates now engage
mostly in companion animal practice. In case more
pressure for concentrating the curriculum onto all
matters pertaining to such activities, notable events
involving infectious disease in farmed animals and
their repercussions for animal and human health
and agriculture during the past 15 years or so
cannot be ignored. The authors have properly recognized the need to provide as broad a microbiological base as is reasonably practicable in
undergraduates course and met it effectively, regardless of which field attracts the new graduate.
IAN SMITH