Microbiology

This alternate edition of Bauman's Microbiology keeps the illustration approach and plain, accessible style of the standard text, but reorganizes the disease chapters (19 through 24) by body system. Chapter vignettes and recent research help bring the subject to life while the book still lays out a thorough foundation in the field.

The opening chapters cover the history and scope of microbiology, basic chemistry, cell structure, microscopy and staining, and how microbes are classified. From there the text moves through microbial metabolism, nutrition and growth, genetics, and biotechnology with recombinant DNA. It then turns to controlling microbes in the environment and in the body, including antimicrobial drugs, followed by separate sections on prokaryotes, eukaryotes, and viruses, viroids, and prions.

Later units address infection, disease and epidemiology, innate and specific immune defenses, immunization and diagnostic testing, and immune deficiencies and hypersensitivities. The disease chapters are grouped by affected system: skin, nervous system, cardiovascular and systemic infections, respiratory, digestive, and urinary and reproductive tracts. The book closes with applied and environmental microbiology. It is intended for readers who want to learn microbiology through this body-systems approach.