Challenging Cases in Diagnostic Clinical Microbiology

This book aims to communicate, educate and inform readers about important facts and new information related to the practice of clinical microbiology and how laboratory testing can be used to provide data impactful to diagnose, treat and manage patients with infectious diseases. This information is important for individual patient outcomes as well as general public health. The book will provide real world examples of how infectious disease diagnostic tests are applied to algorithms to guide the differential diagnosis and facilitate the diagnosis and treatment of patients. Each section of cases based on the type of organisms involved will be preceded by a discussion of the laboratory methods routinely used to diagnose those types of infections. Most importantly, each illustrated case will be structured to include details of the clinical presentation, differential diagnosis, relevant laboratory findings, pathogen identified, and a brief review of other potential etiologies for the clinical syndrome described. The field of clinical microbiology has evolved considerably over the last couple of decades and the technological advances continue to come at a rapid pace. By incorporating these advancements into the clinical cases, readers will gain a greater understanding of the intricacies and nuances of the performance and utility of these newer tests, as well as how the results should be interpreted for various patient populations. Readers will acquire a wide breadth of knowledge through comprehensive reading of these cases and will benefit greatly from increased familiarity with the practice of clinical infectious disease diagnostics. Envisioned as an instructional text for those already practicing in or training in the field of clinical microbiology, this book will serve clinical pathologists, clinical microbiologists, allied healthcare professionals and physicians, as well as medical students, clinical laboratory scientists and trainees, medical residents, and infectious disease and microbiology fellows. It will be a tool to learn about and enhance skills in the discipline through presentation and discussion of cases and methods. While trainees such as medical students, residents, and fellows will benefit by thinking about the whole process from patient to lab to appropriate treatment- following the structure of board exams- those already in the field will broaden their knowledge base with information on the most up-to-date testing methods and algorithms used in the clinical microbiology lab.