Infectious diseases are very important in critical care. In the critical care unit, infectious diseases are seen in the differential diagnoses of the majority of patients, and maybe patients acquire infections in the critical care unit.
However, infectious disease is accorded a relatively minor place in most critical care textbooks and does not receive the emphasis it deserves given its presence in the critical care unit. The infectious diseases encountered in the critical care setting are some of the most severe and often difficult to diagnose.
This book was developed for critical care practitioners, the majority of whom are not trained in infectious diseases. It is written by clinicians in infectious diseases in critical care and is meant as a handbook to provide valuable information not included in critical care textbooks. The text is unique in its emphasis and organization.
It comprises four main sections: The first section deals with general concepts of infectious diseases in the critical care unit; the second deals with infectious diseases on the basis of clinical syndromes; the third deals with specific infectious disease problems; and the fourth, with therapeutic considerations in critical care patients.
One of the unique features of this book is its emphasis on differential diagnosis rather than therapy. The main problem in the critical care unit is not therapeutic but diagnostic. If the patient’s problem can be clearly delineated diagnostically, treatment is a relatively straight forward matter.
Therapy cannot be appropriate unless related to the correct diagnosis. Infectious Diseases in Critical Care Medicine emphasizes the importance of differential diagnoses in each chapter and includes chapters on various “mimics” of infectious diseases. In fact, it is with the “mimics” of various infectious disorders that the clinician often faces the most difficult diagnostic challenges. This book should help the critical care unit clinician readily discern between infectious diseases and the noninfectious disorders that mimic infection.
This is the first and only book that deals solely with infectious diseases in critical care medicine. It is not meant to be a comprehensive textbook of infectious diseases. Rather, it focuses on the most common infections likely to present diagnostic or therapeutic difficulties in the critical care setting.
The authors have approached their subjects from a clinical perspective and have written in a style useful to clinicians. In addition to its usefulness to critical care intensivists, this book should also be helpful to internists and infectious disease clinicians participating in the care of patients in the critical care unit.
