Encounters in Microbiology: Collected from Discover Magazine's "Vital Signs"

Emergency room physicians and specialists are medical detectives in these sixteen "Vital Signs" articles from Discover Magazine. In these accounts, the patients suffer from serious and puzzling illnesses. The physicians must take the available evidence and narrow the possibilities. They need all of their experience, intuition, and a few crucial observations to diagnose the microbial disease. Then, the race is on to confirm the diagnosis and institute life-saving therapy. Selected and introduced by I. Edward Alcamo.In this volume, we present a series of stories involving real people and their encounters with microorganisms. In each case, the individual has reported to a hospital because he or she is suffering from a serious illness. Now it is up to the hero of the story, the physician, to find out what is going on in the patient and what is available to help. For many patients, the encounter with microorganism ends happily, but sometimes, unfortunately, the ending is sad.