Communicable Disease Control Handbook

Communicable Disease Control Handbook, divided into four main sections, is a practical guide to surveillance, prevention, investigation and response to cases for public health staff, clinicians, laboratory staff and environmental health officers working in communicable disease control in the UK and Europe.

11 symptom-based chapters provide the reader with a clear approach in cases where the organism has not been identified. These chapters cover subjects such as food poisoning and sexually transmitted diseases.

83 disease specific chapters cover epidemiology, diagnosis, transmission, pathogenesis, prevention, surveillance, response to cases, investigation of cluster, control of an outbreak for all the main infectious diseases of public health importance in Europe. Text boxes with 'On call actions' and 'Case definition' help the reader to find essential information rapidly.

Communicable disease control services are covered; the basic principles are set out for workers in this field, particularly those that are newly qualified.

Communicable disease control in the different Western European countries is described. This is particularly important now that people travel so widely, and professionals often find themselves needing to contact their counterparts in other countries when dealing with a case.

The term communicable disease control describes the way in which outbreaks of infectious diseases are managed to prevent their transmission and spread. This includes surveillance, prevention, investigation and response to cases. This book is a practical guide.
In Europe the range of diseases and infectious agents differs from that of the US, and yet the only real reference in this field is an American book: Benenson: Control of Communicable Disease Manual. This is published by the American Public Health Association every 5 years and is considered to be a good resource. The problem is that it covers many diseases that do not occur in Europe and omits a number of important European infections. Furthermore, the epidemiological information it gives is based on the US population. It does not consider the public health issues in a European and UK context. The is book aims to fill the gap in the European market.