Tropical Diseases, ed 4.

Abstract

The idea of having a separate supplement to a textbook of medicine may not be a good one, if the supplement is too brief. Nevertheless, this has been the case since 1964 in Tropical Diseases: Supplement to the Prin- ciples and Practice of Medicine . This supplement is intended primarily for students and general practioners living in the tropics (it is not comprehensive enough for those who are interested in tropical diseases). It represents a synopsis of the diseases seen in the tropics, but not necessarily limited to the tropics. Many of them, as a matter of fact, have worldwide distribution: toxoplasmosis, giardiasis, anthrax, tularemia, ratbite fevers, trachoma, superficial mycosis, and histoplasmosis (hemorrhagic disease with renal syndrome is not a tropical disease by any means). Although the new addition has been revised and updated, some areas remain neglected. For instance, the agent causing lymphogranuloma inguinale is neither large virus nor rickettsia;