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The primary goal of Sherris Medical Microbiology is to help students of medical sciences understand how microbes pathogenic to humans cause infectious disease. The approach is a classic biologic one connecting basic science (structure, metabolism, genetics) to disease science (epidemiology, pathogenesis, immunity) for each microbe category (viruses, bacteria, fungi, parasites) and eventually, the individual pathogens. For each of the major pathogens, we also present clinical science (manifestations, diagnosis, treatment, prevention) both to illuminate disease understanding and as preparation for clinical application. Everyone knows that clinically, infectious diseases do not present as microbes but as patients with complaints, lesions, and laboratory findings. The challenge of their effective management involves a deductive process that begins with the clinical (fever, cough, age, season) and proceeds to the etiologic (Influenza A, Staphylococcus aureus, Candida albicans, Plasmodium falciparum). This supplement includes listings of the most common infectious syndromes accompanied by tables that present which infectious agents most commonly produce disease in those circumstances. In a few instances where laboratory findings are crucial to the decision process, they are included as well.
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I. SKIN AND WOUND INFECTIONS
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Folliculitis is a minor infection of the hair follicles (Table S–1). It is often associated with areas of friction and of sweat gland activity and is thus seen most frequently on the neck, face, axillae, and buttocks. Blockage of ducts with inspissated sebum, as in acne vulgaris, predisposes to the condition. Acne vulgaris also involves inflammation of hair follicles and associated sebaceous glands.
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