Lyme Borreliosis: Biology, Epidemiology, and Control

This book provides an excellent, comprehensive review of the biology of Lyme borreliosis. The major focus of 7 of its 12 chapters is the complex ecology of enzootic Borrelia burgdorferi infection as it occurs in different natural foci in temperate regions from North America to Japan. With 29 contributors from 9 countries, this is the only text on this subject that presents a truly global view of its vector biology and epidemiology. Despite the number of contributors, the book is well organized, with little overlap between chapters. The chapters are uniformly well written, with extensive and current references. Although the first chapter provides a brief history of the recognition of Lyme disease in Europe and the United States and a concise summary of its clinical dimensions and treatment in humans and domestic animals, this book does not attempt to provide a detailed review of clinical issues. A subsequent chapter summarizes the known molecular and cell biology of Lyme borreliosis. Although it provides a useful review of the unusual genomic structure of B. burgdorferi and of molecular methods for distinguishing between the different genospecies and strains, this chapter is more encyclopedic than synthetic. Its brief discussion of the molecular epidemiology and evolution of B. burgdorferi, fascinating as it is, could have been enhanced by inclusion of recent work on the population genetics of this organism in ticks endemic to sites in North America.