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Book Review Indian Pediatrics 2001; 38: 315 |
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Infectious Diseases and Immunization |
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Immunization is the most successful story of the 20th century. With the global eradication of small pox and a hope of polio-myelitis eradication, a lot of other infectious diseases have been controlled in this century by proper immunization. Immunization has completely changed the epidemiology of many infectious diseases. In the past few years a large number of efficacious and safe vaccines have been introduced in India and therefore it would be useful for every medical personnel, particularly pediatricians to know the practical details of these vaccines. The present book is an attempt in this direction. The authors of this book have tried to cover most of the currently available vac-cines and the respective infectious diseases in a concise and informative manner. The first chapter deals with general information about immunization, various immunization schedules, storage of vaccines, adverse re-actions after vaccination and their contra-indications. The practical part of immuniza-tion procedures including reconstitution of vaccines and its routes of administration has also been described in detail. Although, most of the information has been given in a proper manner, one or two mistakes need to be corrected, e.g., the number of doses for measles vaccine have been mentioned as 3 (instead of 1) and a second booster dose of hepatitis B vaccine to be given at 10 years (which is no longer recommended by IAP). The subsequent chapters deal with individual infectious diseases and the res-pective vaccines for their prevention in detail. The authors have tried to cover all the UIP vaccines as well as various newer vaccines like Hepatitis A, Varicella, Rota-virus vaccine, CMV vaccine, etc. in a concise manner. Most of the information provided is correct and uptodate. The format of the text makes it quite easy to read and understand. There is paucity of good books on immunization. I hope that this book will serve as a useful ready reckoner for pediatricians and general practioners both in their busy day-to-day practice.
A.P. Dubey, |
