<ul><li><p>490 P.J. WINCH ETAL. </p><p>Smith, P. &amp; Morrow, R. (editors) (1996). Field Trials of Health Intewentions in Developing Countries. London: Macmillan Education. </p><p>Th6ra, M. A., D'Alessandro, U., Thiero, M., Ouedraogo, A., Packou, J., Souleymane, O. A., Fane, M., Ade, G., Alvez, F. &amp; Doumbo, O. (2000). Child malaria treatment practices among mothers in the district of Yanfolila, Sikasso region, Mali. Tropical Medicine and International Health, 5, 876-881. </p><p>Tomkins, A. (1993). Environment, season and infection. In: Seasonali~y and Human Ecology. Ulijaszek, S. J. &amp; Stricldand, S. S. (editors). Cambridge UK: Cambridge University Press, pp. 123-134. </p><p>Wears, R. L. (2002). Advanced statistics: statistical methods for analyzing cluster and cluster-randomized data. Academic Emergency Medicine, 9, 330-341. </p><p>Winch, P. J., LeBan, K., Casazza, L., Walker, L. &amp; Pearcy, K. (2002). An implementation framework for household and community integrated management of childhood illness. Health Policy and Planning, 17, 345-353. </p><p>Received 18 December 2002; revised 23 April 2003; accepted for publication 25 April 2003 </p><p>Book Review </p><p>Antibiotic and Chemotherapy. Anti - infect ive Agents and their use in Therapy, 8th edition. Roger G. Finch, David Greenwood, S. Ragnar Norrby &amp; Richard J. Whitley (editors). Edinburgh, London, New York, Philadelphia, St Louis, Sydney, Toronto: Churchill Livingstone, 2003. xii + 964 pp. Price 115.00. ISBN 0443071292. </p><p>This book is a manual of antibiotic and chemo- therapy therapy. It is now in its eighth edition in 30 years and the rapid growth of information on these subjects is such that the volume has to be updated at intervals of less than 4 years. The original was a manual in a real sense in that it was small enough to carry around. There were only a few groups of antibiotics in 1963. Mary Barber and Lawrence Garrod performed a great job of compression and summarized the informa- tion with such characteristic lucidity that its value to laboratory workers and clinicians alike was immediately recognized. This work was carried on with Harold Lambert and Francis O'Grady for many subsequent editions. </p><p>As the editors point out, along with other contribu- tors to the book, the second gold rush of antibiotics/ chemotherapy starting in the late 1960s has enormously increased the range of agents which now have to be discussed. The editors and authors have won one battle; they maintain the book as a concise summary of the state of knowledge of the agents available for treat- ing infections (bacterial, viral, fungal, and parasitic) and provide advice on how to use these agents. There is not a lot of superfluity. They have not won the unwin- nable battle against the inexorable increase in size and weight. The rapid expansion in the number of effective agents and the widening range of infections amenable to antimicrobial agents means that the size of successive editions has continually increased. The number of pub- lications dealing with antibiotics is now at a level that the useful knowledge--essential knowledge much of it--that needs distilling into an antibiotic manual is enormous. So the distillate gets bigger. But it is still a distillate~a source of valuable information but no longer easy to carry around. </p><p>In some instances the distillate of information could have been larger. The general chapters cover 13 major subjects such as antibiotic resistance, pharmacody- namics, laboratory testing and assays, and effects on the immune system. It is difficult to shoehorn the essential information on these subjects into a few pages. The authors have had to be very selective in what they are able to include and sometimes too little space has been available. Similarly, the authors writing the 27 chapters on specific antimicrobial agents have also had </p><p>to be sparing on the information. Each of the com- pounds mentioned has a standardized entry with anti- microbial activity, resistance, pharmacokinetics (not pharmacodynamics), and clinical uses. The essentials are in, but only essentials are possible with so many compounds to be included. The major, frequently used, classes (such as beta-lactams, quinolones, and macrolides) quite rightly get the major share of the space. Is there sufficient information to satisfy all the readers of this book? Maybe some need more and the further reading section becomes very important in this section of the book. </p><p>The third section relating to the use of antibiotics is fully referenced, as are the chapters in the general section. Despite the similarities of the chapter headings to those in the seventh edition the text shows many changes with many new experts contributing to the book and with much of the text presenting new data. A different system of referencing has been used in the eighth edition so it is not easy to see how much still remains. In general, there is more detailed information on management of a wide variety of infections making this the most updated part of the book. There is, how- ever, much non-antibiotic-related material on patho- genesis, epidemiology, clinical and microbiological diagnosis, prevention of infection, and hospital infec- tion control. The difference in emphasis comes in the first of these chapters where 'Septicaemia' becomes 'Sepsis'. The material in this and in subsequent chap- ters is interesting, well written, and accurate but some is not essential to the use of antibiotics. Do we really need 40 pages on implanted medical devices with 549 references? Pharmacodynamics has only 10 pages and 25 references and laboratory control of antibiotic ther- apy 7 pages and 6 references. Some authors appear to have stuck closely to the aim of being a user's guide to antimicrobial therapy and have dealt predominantly with the antimicrobial treatment of infection. </p><p>This is an edition worthy of its illustrious predeces- sors. Some other infection 'Classics' have gone down the road of splitting the contents into 2 or more separate volumes. There is certainly a need for a refer- ence bible containing the data previously available in Antibiotika Fibel. The second section of this book could well form the basis for a modern Fibel. A volume 2 with some of the general chapters and those on clinical uses would become portable and more easily available where most needed--at the patient's bedside. </p><p>J. D. Wi l l iams Editor-in-chief International Journal of Antimicrobial Agents FESCI/ECC Office 31 St Olav's Court 25 Lower Road London ES16 2XB, UK </p></li></ul>