Clinical Tropical Medicine

Abstract

The Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC) has a considerable tradition in producing texts on "tropical medicine". An early contributor from the British Army was Sir John Pringle whose monumental work "Observations on the diseases of the army" first published in 1752 went to 7 editions; more recent tomes include: L. Rogers and J.W.D. Megaw (1930), and W.H. Hargreaves and R.J.G. Morrison (1965). Tropical medicine (which incorporates clinical parasitology) was a product of the Colonial era around the turn of the century, and is increasingly becoming a component within the discipline "infectious (communicable) diseases"; is a separate text devoted to this subject therefore a viable proposition in 1993? The declared objective(s) of the authors (Brigadier Cowan is Director of Army Medicine, and Dr Heap [late RAMC] a Consultant in Communicable Disease Control in Norfolk) in writing this paper-backed text was to produce "comprehensive coverage of clinical tropical medicine ... aimed at doctors on [post-graduate diploma and master's] courses, medical students on tropical electives, and physicians practising in infectious diseases and the primary and hospital care of travellers". They have based this work on their experience of the practice of "tropical medicine" in the local populations of the Far East, Nepal, India, East and West Africa and tropical Australia. In order to keep the book at a reasonable size, they have excluded: anaemia, cardiovascular, renal and neurological diseases (all important topics in tropical practice). The book is composed of 9 sections: protozoan and helminthic infections receive pride-of-place, and these are followed by "bacterial diseases" (this begins on p. 129 with tuberculosis). At this point comes a section devoted to diarrhoeal disease, and this is followed by: "viral diseases" and "fungal and skin diseases". Part 7 contains a mix of nutritional diseases and "poisoning". A short section is then devoted to eosinophilia and "unexplained" fever. The whole is rounded off by 9 pages on "travel medicine". [Continued below.] ADDITIONAL ABSTRACT: This concise book is intended as a guide for doctors specializing or training in tropical medicine and infectious diseases, for physicians taking up posts in tropical countries, and for undergraduates or graduates studying tropical medicine and hygiene. The 9 parts cover: protozoal diseases (malaria, visceral leishmaniasis, cutaneous leishmaniasis (by D.S. Jolliffe), African trypanosomiasis, American trypanosomiasis, amoebiasis, giardiasis, cryptosporidiosis); helminthiases (roundworm diseases, tapeworms, filariasis and onchocerciasis, schistosomiasis and human fluke infections); bacterial diseases (tuberculosis, leprosy, leptospirosis and relapsing fever, acute bacterial meningitis, enteric fever, tetanus, sexually transmitted diseases, brucellosis and melioidosis, anthrax, tularaemia and plague, rickettsial diseases); diarrhoeal diseases; viral diseases (arboviruses, AIDS, hepatitis, rabies); fungal and skin diseases (fungal infections, skin ulcers, myiasis); nutritional diseases and poisoning (nutritional deficiencies and poisoning, snake bite); eosinophilia and unexplained fever; travelling to the tropics (outline of immunization and protection of the traveller).