Immunology Today, Vol. 11, No. 1 1990

book r ~ l / e , # D~1¢ '

AIDS and AIDS-related Infections: Current

Strategies for Prevention and Therapy

edited by Adrian 8int and John Oxford, Academic Press, 1989. £12.50 (v + 137 pages)

ISBN i2 099200 0

The AIDS epidemic has triggered a parallel epidemic of publications re- lating to AIDS and HIV infection, of which this 137 page, soft-cover book is one. AIDS and AIDS-related Infec- tions is evidently the edited proceed- ings of a conference of the same title held in April 1988. According to the preface, i~s purpose is to "relay cur- rent strategies for prevention and therapy of AIDS and AIDS-related in- fections." A target audience is not specified.

AIDS ~nd AIDS-related Infections succeeds on several counts. It is corn-

pact and inexpensive- characteristics that are unfortunately usually lacking in many present-day medical texts. A number of the chapters - those written by Weber, Tisdale, Oxford, Gazzard, DeClerq and Tyms stand out - are authoritative reviews of the sub- ject written by recognized authorities in the field. The selection of some of the other authors, however, appears not to have been as careful. There is also a tremendous ,nconsistency be- tween chapters in their content and orientation. For example, there are four chapters discussing the molecu- lar basis for development of drugs against HIV, comprising about 45 pages, or over one-third of the text, yet there are no practical guidelines for the clinician wishing to use zidovudine. In contrast, the chapters on specific opportunistic infections have fairly detailed practical infor- mation regarding use of current anti- microbials, and more limited (or minimal) information about investi-

gational drugs or the molecular basis of drug development. The chapter on fungal infections barely mentions the new azole antifungals, even though extensive clinical trials with fluco- nazole and itraconazole were al- ready underway by Apr;I 1988. The text also suffers from another prob- lem that is e~demic in AiDS texts, that of being over a year out-of-date. Edit- ing errors (for example the first para- graph on page 63) are infrequent.

In summary, this book offers much in+-~rmation about HIV infection and related illnesses, but it is neither com- prehensive nor consistent in its ap- proach. However, both the clinician and the basic scientist will find some useful information therein, and at this price it is good value.

John Mills

Division of Infectious Diseases, San Francisco General Hospital, 995 Potrero Avenue, San

Francisco, CA 94110, USA...---..--

AIDS Pathogenesis and Treatment

edited by Jay A. Levy, Marcel Dekker, Inc., 1Q~Q COO 7~ (p . . . . . ~,JJ.,., ages XXI -~ uJ."/~'Jl IJDIVICI~A' UI~ OZ'~/~"~A'7

7684 4

As the worldwide epidemic of human immunodeficiency virus (! ilV) infections expands, so do related articles and books. To stay up-to-date in fields as disparate as acquired im- mune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) epidemio!ogy, molecular virology, immune mechanisms and clinical care is a virtually impJssible task and Jay Levy has compiled and edited an ambitious volume intended to review many broad areas related to AIDS and HIV infecLk. ". He has done so with a distinct San Francisco perspective, since 30 of the 36 authors are from the Bay area, most from the Univer- sity of California. As a result, there is a certain local flavor, with a slightly different version of historical events from that published previously by NIH and French authorities 1. There are also several chapters written largely in the first person and perhaps too much - - - ' - - - ~,~,la,,o~Is on largely local mat- ters - for example descriptions of

services available at San Francisco General Hospital. Nevertheless, Levy's volume is, by and large, an excellent and useful compendium of various aspects related to AIDS pathoge,~esis and therapy.

The book is divided roughly into sections that address HIV epidemiol- ogy (Chapters 1-7), pathogenesis (Chapters 8-11) and clinical care (Chapters 12-20). As expected in any multi-authored text, considerable variety in quality exists a:nong the different contributions. Particularly useful are the overviews of H!V infec- tion in the USA, Africa and Haiti (Chapters 1-3), Chapter 9 on HIV molecular virology, Chapter 13 on Kaposi's sarcoma, Chapter 16 on pul- monary manifestations and chapters on cytomegalovirus and herpes simplex virus (19.1 and 19.11). It is somewhat surprising that in a volume as extensive as this, no separate chap- ter on the therapy of HIV infections was included, since this is an area of great importance and one in which significant progress has been made. Portions of individual chapters con- tain paragraphs about HIV therapy, but these are incomplete and some- what out-of-date. One of the proD- lems with any book such as this is that the HIV field moves so quickly.

Necessary editorial and publishing delays unavoidably make portions of the book appear dated. For example there is no mention of zidovudine or dideoxyinosine studies of recent vin- tage, zidovudine resistance, or new HIV gene terminology. Recent de- velopments such as the use of polym- erase chain reaction technology or aerosol pentaminde prophylaxis are covered only sketchily.

Overall, the book .~chieves its goal of providing "background infor- mation to incoming students in the field', or for that matter, anyone in- terested in an overview of AIDS up to 1988, with excellent bibliographies for those interested in pursuing indi- vidual areas in greater depth. It can be recommended as a primer for students, physicians, scientists, or educators entering the field of AIDS studies.

Martin S. Hirsch

Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02114, USA.

Reference 1 Gallo, R.C. and Montagnier, L. (1987) Nature 326, 435-436

33