Diseases of Man Acquired from His Pets
by B. Bisseru, M.Sc., Ph.D., M.B., B.S., M.R.C.S., M.R.C.P.Ed., D.T.M.&H., D.Obst.R.C.O.G., Department of Clinical Tropical Medicine, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, now Head of the Department of Parasitology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya. xiv + 482 pages, illustrated. J. B. Lippincott Company, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. 1968. $14.00
The zoonoses (diseases transmissible between lower animals and man) are being noticed increasingly. The World Health Organization accepts over 200, and Dr. Bisseru has tabulated 311 diseases, species, or genera of zoonotic importance. These include 52 virus diseases (28 arbo- and 24 other), 28 species or genera of bacteria, nine of rickettsiae, nine of spirochetes, seven of fungi, 20 of protozoa, 49 of nematodes, 52 of trematodes, 21 of cestodes, two of thorny-headed worms, and 43 of arthropods. The title of his book is somewhat misleading, since it includes diseases and parasites common to man and his pets or domestic animals.
One chapter is devoted to diseases that man may get from carnivores, and others are devoted to birds, rodents, nonhuman primates, ungulates (and other domestic animals), reptiles and amphibians, fish (including other marine animals), and arthropods.
This is an authoritative book and should be a most useful reference work or even textbook for a course on zoonoses.