HIV and the Pathogenesis of AIDS

From The Critics

Reviewer: Mark D. Goodman, MD(Creighton University Medical Center)
Description: The author includes a small history chapter in this third edition, but most of the book concentrates on the cellular biology of HIV, finishing with chapters on treatment and vaccine development. The second edition was published 10 years ago.
Purpose: The purpose "is to provide a resource for clinicians, researchers, health care providers and students." The book is the most comprehensive biological treatise on HIV that I have read, but has less emphasis on the clinical care of people living with HIV/AIDS. Therefore, it appears to be directed more at researchers and students and less at clinicians and HIV care providers.
Audience: This will be of tremendous interest to cellular biologists and researchers, with perhaps less utility to clinicians and HIV care providers. The author is a legend in HIV discovery and care.
Features: The author provides a comprehensive look at HIV transmission, cellular interactions, immune responses, development of malignancy in an HIV-affected immune system, and spends some time on novel therapies and vaccine development. The most interesting reading for me, however, was the end of each chapter, where "Salient Features" provides a summary. The photos and brief biographies of AIDS pioneer researchers in each chapter are very interesting, and provide a humanistic point of view on this subject. From my point of view, the only shortcoming of the book is its very microbiological focus.
Assessment: This is a powerful resource, well referenced, and very up to date. It represents exhaustive work by Dr. Levy and others, and is likely to be found on the bookshelf of serious practitioners and researchers in HIV care.

Journal of the American Medical Association

It is the best single source for students committed to understanding the multiple facets of the HIV epidemic and is equally valuable for experienced investigators to confirm facts, test concepts, and with persistence gain new insights into old ideas.

Judith L. Nerad

This is an update of current knowledge on the pathogenesis of HIV infection. Issues concerning the basic molecular and cellular aspects of the AIDS virus itself and the host response are presented. Several excellent photomicrographs and tables illustrate the text. The information is a review of pertinent scientific papers to date, presented clearly and concisely. The purpose is to "define the important events surrounding this relatively recent public health and medical challenge, which introduces new concepts in viral pathogenesis and demands new approaches for control and prevention of an infectious disease [HIV]." Included in this are discussions on the nature of the virus itself, target cells, consequences of infection, the host's response to the infection, and potential approaches to therapy. The author meets the objectives. The target audience for this work includes research investigators in AIDS, immunology, virology, oncology, and infectious diseases as well as medical practitioners treating HIV-infected patients. There are several excellent illustrations and helpful tables. The photomicrographs of histologic specimens and electron microscopic examinations are very interesting. The references are generally up-to-date through early 1994. This book is an excellent concise summary of a complicated subject. It brings the reader up-to-date, reviewing almost 2000 pertinent references published on HIV pathogenesis, describing the virus itself, the cells it infects, the host's response to that infection, the consequences of that infection, and strategies for potential therapies. It is a resource upon which further work can be built. Any serious investigators or teachers of HIVpathogenesis should include this book in their collections.

Mark T. McNally

This second edition comprehensively reviews the history, background, and current studies of the multifaceted pathobiology of HIV and AIDS. The first edition was published in 1994. Its aim is to provide a current overview of the rapidly progressing HIV/AIDS field, with particular emphasis on advances within the last four years. Since a number of important advances have occurred recently and the amount of literature that has accumulated is enormous, such a distillation is warranted. Intended for investigators, healthcare providers, and students with strong interests in AIDS pathogenesis, it is written at a level appropriate for those well versed in medical science, and particularly immunology. The author, who has made significant contributions in this area since the onset of the AIDS epidemic, is an authority on the subject. This book is well organized and includes helpful sub-topics at the beginning of each chapter. Particularly useful are the many clear illustrations (several in color) and tabular summaries of the text material. The "salient features" section at the end of each chapter concisely summarizes the major points and should be useful for not only students, but instructors who might use the text to structure lectures. The references are as up-to-date as possible and exhaustive (about 3,000). One might question the need for a second edition after just four years, but the sheer volume of information generated in the interim, placed in the context of previous work, is useful. Understandably missing from a pathology perspective is an extensive treatment of HIV molecular biology, but the reader is referred to numerous reviews for this information. The material is wellbalanced and in-depth, and a single volume presentation by one author lends continuity to the work. The book is a valuable AIDS resource.

Booknews

A comprehensive reference for researchers and students in any field that studies HIV or AIDS. Traces the development of HIV theories and the latest thinking on how the virus and the syndrome are related. Epidemiology, transmission, infection, immunology, survival, and anti-HIV approaches are outlined and thoroughly referenced for further investigation. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR booknews.com

3 Stars from Doody