Abstract

This is a very useful compilation of references from journals, mostly Indian journals, dealing with work done in India on viral and rickettsial infections of vertebrates. An excellent introduction by Dr. T. Ramachandra Rao provides a useful summary of Indian work. References are listed under headings of the specific virus agents, which in turn are presented according to current subdivisions of RNA and DNA viruses, and, for RNA viruses, for example, breakdowns into picornaviruses, ECHO viruses, rhinoviruses, arboviruses, etc. Individual virus agents then follow in appropriate position with further subdivisions into several subtopics. There are also headings where indicated, for specific diseases. No indexing system can meet all criticisms, and this one is no exception. When one encounters, under clinical headings, the subsections of “Encephalitis,” “Encephalitis Lethargica,” and “Encephalomyelitis,” the arrangement seems clumsy. Any discrepancies in the general arrangement of references in the body of the book are more than offset by an author index and a subject index.