Whether we realize it or not, microbes play an ever-present role in our daily lives. Foodborne infections, epidemics, and pandemics are frequently headline news. The Microbial Challenge: Science, Disease, and Public Health, Second Edition, presents a fascinating look at human-microbe interactions and examines the disease producers while discussing how, with knowledge-based preparation, we can live in harmony with microbes. It also discusses the ways in which beneficial microbes are involved in the cycles of nature and in the food industry, and how they are used as research tools. Ideal for undergraduate non-science majors and allied and public health students, this unique text is a hybrid of microbiology and public health and includes material on prions, helminths (worms), biological warfare and terrorism, antibiotic resistance, the global impact of microbial diseases, and immunization. The text helps students better understand the biology of the microbial world and the societal factors that are both the cause and consequences of microbial disease. With up-to-date content, current information on health organizations, including the CDC and WHO, and a new chapter on bacterial genetics, The Microbial Challenge provides a gripping account of the burden of microbial diseases throughout the world.
Microbes play a highly significant role in our daily lives as agents of infectious disease and are a major public health concern. The third edition of The Microbial Challenge: A Public Health Perspective addresses this topic and has been extensively revised and updated with the latest data in a fast-paced field. It focuses on human-microbe interactions and considers bacterial, viral, prion, protozoan, fungal and helminthic (worm) diseases. A chapter on beneficial aspects of microbes makes it clear that not all microbes are disease producers and that microbes are necessary for the sustenance of life on Earth. The response of the immune system, concepts of epidemiology, and measures of control from the individual to the international level to thwart potentially life-threatening epidemics are described. Sections on fungi and fungal diseases are new. The third edition includes new and contemporary information on vaccinations, antibiotic resistant microbes, practical disinfection information, virotherapy and emerging diseases. New boxes throughout the text feature items of human interest such as big and bizarre viruses, probiotics, rats, and synthetic biology. Ancillary instructor and student resources have been updated and expanded including the end of the chapter Self Evaluations. New and Key Features of the Third Edition: -New end-of-chapter questions included in every chapter. -A wealth of new feature boxes add a real-world perspective to the topics at hand. -New data on virotherapy and prions as infectious agents -New and updated statistics and data tables included throughout the text -Includes the latest on emerging and reemerging infectious diseases as major health problems
The fourth edition of Krasner's Microbial Challenge focuses on human-microbe interactions and considers bacterial, viral, prion, protozoan, fungal and helminthic (worm) diseases and is the ideal resource for non-majors, nursing programs, and public health programs.
Humans coexist with millions of harmless microorganisms, but emerging diseases, resistance to antibiotics, and the threat of bioterrorism are forcing scientists to look for new ways to confront the microbes that do pose a danger. This report identifies innovative approaches to the development of antimicrobial drugs and vaccines based on a greater understanding of how the human immune system interacts with both good and bad microbes. The report concludes that the development of a single superdrug to fight all infectious agents is unrealistic.
Infectious diseases are a global hazard that puts every nation and every person at risk. The recent SARS outbreak is a prime example. Knowing neither geographic nor political borders, often arriving silently and lethally, microbial pathogens constitute a grave threat to the health of humans. Indeed, a majority of countries recently identified the spread of infectious disease as the greatest global problem they confront. Throughout history, humans have struggled to control both the causes and consequences of infectious diseases and we will continue to do so into the foreseeable future. Following up on a high-profile 1992 report from the Institute of Medicine, Microbial Threats to Health examines the current state of knowledge and policy pertaining to emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases from around the globe. It examines the spectrum of microbial threats, factors in disease emergence, and the ultimate capacity of the United States to meet the challenges posed by microbial threats to human health. From the impact of war or technology on disease emergence to the development of enhanced disease surveillance and vaccine strategies, Microbial Threats to Health contains valuable information for researchers, students, health care providers, policymakers, public health officials. and the interested public.
This book summarizes the emerging trends in the field of antibiotic resistance of various gram-negative and gram-positive bacterial species. The ability of different species of bacteria to resist the antimicrobial agent has become a global problem. As such, the book provides a comprehensive overview of the advances in our understanding of the origin and mechanism of resistance, discusses the modern concept of the biochemical and genetic basis of antibacterial resistance and highlights the clinical and economic implications of the increased prevalence of antimicrobial resistant pathogens and their ecotoxic effects. It also reviews various strategies to curtail the emergence and examines a number of innovative therapeutic approaches, such as CRISPR, phage therapy, nanoparticles and natural antimicrobials, to combat the spread of resistance.
The fourth edition of Krasner's Microbial Challenge focuses on human-microbe interactions and considers bacterial, viral, prion, protozoan, fungal and helminthic (worm) diseases and is the ideal resource for non-majors, nursing programs, and public health programs.
Without microbes, no other forms of life would be possible. But what does it mean to be with microbes? In this book, 24 contributors attune to microbes and describe their multiple relationships with humans and others.
Food plays an essential part in everyday life. Food should be tasty, healthy, sustainable and preferably not too expensive. But food should also be safe and with sufficient guarantees on maintaining good quality aspects until the end of shelf life. The various actors in the food supply chain have an interest in verifying the expected quality and safety by means of microbiological analyses of food. Measurement brings knowledge and microbiological guidelines help in the decision-making process for judging the acceptability of food or food production processes. The present handbook provides microbiological guidelines and current applicable EU legal criteria (status 1.1.2018) for a wide range of food categories (dairy, meat, seafoods, plant-based foods, bakery products, composite foods, shelf-stable food, water) and subcategories therein, based upon the type of food processing and intrinsic characteristics of the foods. This book can be consulted to provide quick answers on the expected microbiological contamination of foodstuff. It can help in interpretation of test results in assessing good (hygienic) practices in the production of food, determining the shelf life and ensuring food safety. The handbook also presents definitions of the wide variety of foodstuffs available and some reflections on, in particular, food safety issues or the on-going debate for some food items in assessing microbial quality. This book provides crucial information about food safety, for the use of students and professionals. EXTRACT "First we eat, then we do everything else" M.F.K. Fisher Food plays an important part in everyday life. But when being a food scientist or in the food business, food gets to be an even bigger part of your life. Our team at the Food Microbiology and Food Preservation research group (FMFP-UGent) at Ghent University during its academic tasks in education, research, scientific activities at committees, but also in interaction with many food companies and stakeholders in the food supply chain in projects or contract work, has built up considerable expertise on the microbiological analysis of a large variety of foodstuffs. Being situated in Ghent, and thus close to Brussels, the heart of Europe, we intrinsically have to understand and deal with legal EU criteria or action limits. The latter is the reason why this book is mainly oriented towards inclusion or making reference to EU legal microbiological criteria for foodstuffs as well. ABOUT THE AUTHORS The main author, Prof. Mieke Uyttendaele, leads, together with Prof. Frank Devlieghere, the Food Microbiology and Food Preservation Research Group (FMFP-UGent) at Ghent University, Belgium. Her teaching and research area covers aspects of microbiological analysis of foods, food safety and food hygiene. She has built over twenty years of experience by executing, initiating and coordinating various projects in this research discipline dealing with sampling and testing to collect baseline data on the microbial contamination of foods, looking into the virulence of food-borne pathogens, elaborating challenge testing to study the behavior of food-borne pathogens. All this information serves as an input for quality assurance and microbial risk assessment to support food safety decision-making and setting microbiological criteria. She was/is the promotor of more than 25 Ph.D students (including EU and non-EU citizens). Throughout her career, Prof. Uyttendaele has published more than 270 peer reviewed scientific papers, authored several book chapters and presented at numerous international Conferences/Workshops. Throughout the years she has also used her scientific expertise in interpretation of test results for analyses obtained in routine monitoring or analysis executed at the food service lab at FMFP-UGent.
A scientific overview of the association of microbes with cheese, through the lens of select cheese varieties that result due to surface mold ripening, internal mold ripening, rind washing, cave aging, or surface smear rind development. Over the past decade, there has been explosive growth in the U.S. artisan cheese industry. The editor, Ms. Donnelly, was involved in developing a comprehensive education curriculum for those new to cheese making, which focused on the science of cheese, principally to promote cheese quality and safety. Many of the chapters in this book focus on aspects of that requisite knowledge. • Explains the process of transformation of milk to cheese and how sensory attributes of cheese are evaluated. • Provides an overview of cheese safety and regulations governing cheese making, both in the US and abroad, to ensure safety. • Explores how the tools of molecular biology provide new insights into the complexity of the microbial biodiversity of cheeses. • Examines the biodiversity of traditional cheeses as a result of traditional practices, and overviews research on the stability of the microbial consortium of select traditional cheese varieties. • Key text for cheese makers, scientists, students, and cheese enthusiasts who wish to expand their knowledge of cheeses and traditional foods.
