Introduction

Abstract

As Alfred S. Evans and Harry A. Feldman indicated in the preface to the first edition of Bacterial Infections of Humans: Epidemiology and Control, the aim of the text was to bridge “the gap between texts on basic microbiology and those on clinical infectious diseases....” The purpose of the text was and remains to discuss “the pathogenesis of infection and disease both within the community and within the individual.” This is done in the context “that a variety of factors in both the external and internal environment, and in the nature of the infectious agent, influence exposure, the development of infection, and the pattern of host response. An understanding of the epidemiology and pathogenesis of these processes forms the basis for approaches to control and prevention.”