Tickborne Infectious Diseases: Diagnosis and Management PDF

Preface Tickborne infectious diseases are of worldwide importance. There is an increase in recognition as well as in the incidence of infections derived from ticks. Some infectious diseases acquired from ticks are common, e.g., Lyme disease, and several can be life-threatening, e.g., Rocky Mountain spotted fever (RMSF). Lyme disease is most frequently encountered with much diagnostic and therapeutic confusion. For this reason, Lyme disease is covered in this book in more detail than other tickborne infections.

Tickborne infectious diseases are among the most interesting and potentially devastating infections of mankind and may be viral, bacterial, or rickettsial. The tickborne rickettsioses include some of the most interesting infectious diseases, which fortunately are treatable, e.g., RMSF, ehrlichiosis, typhus, and Q fever. The tickborne encephalitides are distributed worldwide and include such illnesses as Powassan encephalitis and Russian spring-summer encephalitis. Some of the important hemorrhagic fevers are tickborne: included in this group are Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever, Kyasanur Forest disease, and Omsk hemorrhagic fever. Lastly, other tickborne infectious diseases include relapsing fever, tick paralysis, tularemia, and Colorado tick fever.

Tickborne infections constitute a broad spectrum of complicated and dangerous diseases that vary in their vectors and clinical manifestations and are easily confused with a wide variety of other infectious and noninfectious diseases. Tickborne Infectious Diseases: Diagnosis and Management includes the differential diagnosis of many illnesses, and it is the only single-source text on the diagnosis and management of tickborne infectious diseases.

The need for a separate book on this subject arose from the increase in the number of tickborne infections that have affected the human population worldwide. Some of the information contained in this book is available in many other sources, but no single-source publication has previously put all of this information together for the use of clinicians dealing with tickborne infectious diseases. In addition to the classic zoonoses, comprehensive coverage of babesiosis and ehrlichiosis is included here. Tickborne encephalitis and tickborne hemorrhagic fevers, which are a constant threat to the human population, are also reviewed.

Each contributor was selected for his expertise in an area of tickborne transmitted infections. They come from many academic disciplines and range from basic scientists to clinical academicians. This single-source book should provide a handy reference to all clinicians dealing with tickborne infectious diseases.