The term communicable disease control describes the way in which outbreaks of infectious diseases are managed to prevent their transmission and spread. This includes surveillance, prevention, investigation, and response to cases. This book is a practical guide to a very topical subject. In the past five years, there have been changes in several areas of health protection practice, and there has been significant scientific progress in the field, which should be reflected in a new edition. The current H1N1 flu pandemic, and outbreaks in recent years of avian flu and SARS, have raised the profile of communicable disease control. In Europe the range of diseases and infectious agents differs from that of the US, and yet the only real reference in this field is an American book: Heymann: Control of Communicable Disease Manual. This is published by the American Public Health Association every 5 years and is considered to be a good resource. The problem is that it covers many diseases that do not occur in Europe and omits a number of important European infections. Furthermore, the epidemiological information it gives is based on the US population. It does not consider the public health issues in a European and UK context. This book aims to fill the gap in the European market. The book is divided into 5 sections. After an introductory chapter, there follow problem/symptom-based chapters. The purpose of these is to help the reader approach cases in which the organism is unclear. It covers both differential diagnosis and general measures. The main body of the text is devoted to disease specific chapters. There are 90 of these, and they cover the diseases in a uniform way. The chapters are divided into the following subsections: introduction, epidemiology, diagnosis, transmission, pathogenesis, prevention, surveillance, response to cases, investigation of cluster, and control of outbreak. Text boxes with 'On call actions' and 'Case definition' help the reader to find essential information rapidly. The final section covers communicable disease services. The aim of this section is to set out the basic principles of infection control and provide a context for workers in this field, particularly those that are newly qualified. However, there is also information that will be of interest to the more established professionals, such as dealing with the media. Similar to Heymann, it will be published in a handbook format so that it can be carried around by people on call. The new two-colour layout will allow instant access to the information.

Jeremy Hawker is Regional Epidemiologist for the Health Protection Agency, West Midlands; Registrar of the UK Faculty of Public Health, UK

Norman Begg is Chief Medical Officer, GlaxoSmithKline Biologicals, Wavre, Belgium

Iain Blair is Associate Professor, Department of Community Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, United Arab Emirates University

Ralf Reintjes is Professor of Epidemiology and Public Health Surveillance, Hamburg, Germany; Adjunct Professor of Infectious Disease Epidemiology, Tampere, Finland

Julius Weinberg is Vice Chancellor, Kingston University, London, UK

Professor Karl Ekdahl is Head of Public Health Capacity and Communication Unit, European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), Stockholm, Sweden

Foreword.

Abbreviations.

Section 1: Introduction.

1.1 How to use this book.

1.2 Basic Concepts in the Epidemiology and Control of Infectious Disease.

1.3 Health Protection on-call.

Section 2: Common topics.

2.1 Meningitis and meningism.

2.2 Gastrointestinal infection.

2.3 Community acquired pneumonia.

2.4 Rash in pregnancy.

2.5 Rash and fever in children.

2.6 Illness in returning travellers.

2.7 Sexually Transmitted Infections.

2.8 Jaundice.

2.9 Infection in the immunocompromised.

2.10 Blood borne viral infections.

2.11 Vaccine Queries.

2.12 Individual measures against infections.

Section 3: Diseases.

3.1 Amoebic dysentery.

3.2 Anthrax.

3.3 Bacillus cereus.

3.4 Botulism.

3.5 Brucellosis.

3.6 Burkholderia.

3.7 Campylobacter.

3.8 Chickenpox and shingles (varicella-zoster infections).

3.9 Chikungunya.

3.10 Chlamydophila pneumoniae.

3.11 Chlamydophila psittaci.

3.12 Chlamydia trachomatis (genital).

3.13 Cholera.

3.14 CJD and other human transmissible spongiform encephalopathies.

3.15 Clostridium difficile.

3.16 Clostridium perfringens.

3.17 Coxsackievirus infections.

3.18 Cryptosporidiosis.

3.19 Cyclosporiasis.

3.20 Cytomegalovirus.

3.21 Dengue fever.

3.22 Diphtheria.

3.23 Encephalitis, acute.

3.24 Enterococci, including glycopeptide-resistant enterococci (GRE).

3.25 Epstein–Barr virus.

3.26 Escherichia coli O157 (and other E. coli gastroenteritis).

3.27 Giardiasis.

3.28 Gonorrhoea, syphilis and other acute STIs.

3.29 Hantavirus.

3.30 Head lice.

3.31 Helicobacter pylori.

3.32 Hepatitis A.

3.33 Hepatitis B.

3.34 Hepatitis C.

3.35 Delta hepatitis.

3.36 Hepatitis E.

3.37 Herpes simplex.

3.38 Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib).

3.39 HIV.

3.40 Influenza.

3.41 Japanese B encephalitis.

3.42 Kawasaki Syndrome.

3.43 Legionellosis.

3.44 Leprosy.

3.45 Leptospirosis.

3.46 Listeria.

3.47 Lyme disease.

3.48 Malaria.

3.49 Measles.

3.50 Meningococcal infection.

3.51 Molluscum contagiosum.

3.52 MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus).

3.53 Mumps.

3.54 Mycoplasma.

3.55 Norovirus.

3.56 Paratyphoid fever.

3.57 Parvovirus B19 (fifth disease).

3.58 Plague.

3.59 Pneumococcal infection.

3.60 Poliomyelitis.

3.61 Q fever.

3.62 Rabies.

3.63 Relapsing Fever.

3.64 Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV).

3.65 Ringworm.

3.66 Rotavirus.

3.67 Rubella.

3.68 Salmonellosis.

3.69 Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS).

3.70 Scabies

3.71 Shigella.

3.72 Smallpox.

3.73 Staphylococcal food poisoning.

3.74 Streptococcal infections.

3.75 Tetanus.

3.76 Threadworms.

3.77 Tick-borne encephalitis.

3.78 Toxocara.

3.79 Toxoplasmosis.

3.80 Tuberculosis.

3.81 Tularaemia.

3.82 Typhoid fever.

3.83 Rickettsial infections (incl. Typhus) Ehrlichia and Bartonella.

3.84 Vibrio parahaemolyticus.

3.85 Viral haemorrhagic fevers.

3.86 Warts and verrucae.

3.87 West Nile Virus.

3.88 Whooping cough.

3.89 Yellow fever.

3.90 Yersiniosis.

3.91 Other organisms.

Section 4: Services and organisations.

4.1 Surveillance of communicable disease.

4.2 Managing infectious disease incidents and outbreaks.

4.3 Infection Prevention and Control in the Community.

4.4 Healthcare Associated Infection.

4.5 Antimicrobial Resistance.

4.6 Risks to and from Health Care Workers.

4.7 Co-ordination of immunisation services.

4.8 Services for sexual health and HIV infection.

4.9 Services for tuberculosis control.

4.10 Travel Health.

4.11 Pandemic Preparedness and the Influenza A H1N1 2009 Pandemic.

4.12 Non-infectious environmental hazards.

4.13 Managing acute chemical incidents.

4.14 Managing acute radiation incidents.

4.15 Deliberate release of biological, chemical or radiological agents.

4.16 Media Relations and Crisis Communication.

4.17 Clinical Governance and Audit.

4.18 Global health.

Section 5: Communicable disease control in Europe.

5.1 WHO and International Health Regulations (IHR).

5.2 Collaboration within the European Union.

5.3 Detailed national example: organisational arrangements for health protection: England, 2010.

5.4 Austria.

5.5 Belgium.

5.6 Bulgaria.

5.7 Cyprus.

5.8 Czech Republic.

5.9 Denmark.

5.10 Estonia.

5.11 Finland.

5.12 France.

5.13 Germany.

5.14 Greece.

5.15 Hungary.

5.16 Iceland.

5.17 Ireland.

5.18 Italy.

5.19 Latvia.

5.20 Lithuania.

5.21 Luxembourg.

5.22 Malta.

5.23 The Netherlands.

5.24 Norway.

5.25 Poland.

5.26 Portugal.

5.27 Romania.

5.28 Slovakia.

5.29 Slovenia.

5.30 Spain.

5.31 Sweden.

5.32 Switzerland.

5.33 United Kingdom.

Appendix 1 Useful addresses and telephone numbers.

Appendix 2 Guidance documents and books.

Index.