Instilling good prescribing habits in young doctors is essential for the benefit of patients and to preserve the value of the antibiotic revolution that altered medical practice in the second half of the twentieth century. These concerns underlie the approach taken in the new edition of this successful book. The text provides a comprehensive and up-to-date account of the principles of antimicrobial chemotherapy as an aid to informed, rational prescribing. Care is taken to address all aspects of antimicrobial drug use, including those specific to developed and developing countries of the world. The authors are international experts with a long standing interest in the role of education as a means of promoting an understanding of the benefits and limitations of antimicrobial chemotherapy in physicians, surgeons and other health care workers. The book offers a structured approach to the subject in four themed sections, each of several chapters. A historical introduction is followed by a section outlining the basic properties of antibacterial, antifungal, antiparasitic and antiviral (including antiretroviral) drugs. The next section explains the various facets of antimicrobial drug resistance - which threatens to undermine the continued efficacy of antimicrobial agents - and effective ways of countering the threat. Therapeutic use is covered in two sections: one introduces readers to the general principles that inform the rational prescribing of antimicrobial drugs; the second deals with practicalities of the use of antimicrobial agents in specific clinical conditions. The book ends with a description of the ways in which drugs are developed and marketed. There are extensive recommendations for further reading.

Historical Introduction Part I: General properties of antimicrobial agents 1. Inhibitors of bacterial cell wall synthesis 2. Inhibitors of bacterial protein synthesis 3. Synthetic antibacterial agents and miscellaneous antibiotics 4. Antifungal agents 5. Antiprotozoal and anthelminthic agents 6. Antiviral agents 7. Antiretroviral agents Part 2: Resistance to antimicrobial agents 8. The problem of resistance 9. Mechanisms of acquired resistance 10. Genetics of resistance 11. Control of the spread of resistance Part 3: General principles of usage of antimicrobial agents 12. Use of the laboratory 13. General principles of the treatment of infection 14. Pharmacokinetics 15. Prescribing for children and the elderly 16. Adverse reactions 17. Chemoprophylaxis 18. Guidelines, formularies and antimicrobial policies Part 4: Therapeutic use of antimicrobial agents 19. Respiratory tract infections 20. Urinary infections 21. Gastrointestinal infections 22. Bacteraemia and endocarditis 23. Skin and soft tissue infections 24. Bone and joint infections 25. Mycobacterial disease 26. Infections of the central nervous system 27. Viral infections 28. Infection in immunocompromised patients including HIV/AIDS 29. Sexually transmitted infections 30. Parasitic diseases 31. Topical use of antimicrobial agents 32. Postscript: The development and marketing of antimicrobial drugs

David GreenwoodEmeritus Professor of Antimicrobial Science, University of Nottingham Medical School, UK, Roger FinchProfessor of Infectious Diseases, University of Nottingham Medical School, UK, Peter DaveyProfessor of Pharmacoeconomics, University of Dundee; Honorary Consultant in Infectious Diseases, NHS Tayside, Dundee, UK, Mark WilcoxProfessor of Medical Microbiology, University of Leeds; Consultant and Director of Infection Prevention & Control, Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, UK