Given the increasing numbers of immunocompromised patients—those with the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), those with diseases that involve immunocompromise, and those having immunosuppressive therapy—more physicians are confronted with the task of diagnosing both common and opportunistic infections in these patients. All clinicians dealing with these populations should become familiar with the cutaneous manifestations of these infections.

Several textbooks, both general dermatology and more specialized texts, address cutaneous infections and include color plates of lesions and chapters on infections in the immunocompromised host, but this is the first book devoted exclusively to the subject. Although by design it excludes primary immunodeficiency diseases, diabetes mellitus, alcoholism, severe burns, malnutrition, and patients who have had splenectomy, the book still covers an extensive array of underlying conditions, including AIDS, leukemia and lymphoma, and corticosteroid therapy. The text is based on the author's own experience as a consulting dermatologist at Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center in New York, but it includes many illustrations from other sources, including previously published papers. As is often the case, the book is organized by infectious agent, and each section discusses the clinical settings in which the infections occur and the various manifestations that the given agent elicits in patients. Each section also includes an up-to-date, annotated specific and general bibliography. The high-quality illustrations, all in color, show the wide range of presentation of lesions caused by infection with given agents. In many cases, the evolution of lesions over time is also shown. Other chapters discuss clues to diagnosis and list differential diagnoses made on the basis of types of lesions. These latter chapters will prove most useful to the clinician and thus could have been expanded.

The book could also be better in several other respects. It would have been useful if the authors had indicated the relative frequency of infection with specific organisms under each type of lesion and within specific clinical settings. Oral cavity lesions are covered for some organisms, such as cytomegalovirus and herpes simplex virus, but not as a manifestation of candidal infection. Oral hairy leukoplakia associated with Epstein-Barr virus is also omitted. Most sections have ample illustrations, but some (such as the section on streptococcal infections, which discusses atypical presentations) have none. Occasionally, but not systematically, illustrations of histopathologic sections showing the infecting organism are included; these are probably unnecessary for a book of this type. Treatment for the cutaneous lesions, if discussed, is only briefly mentioned and is not a major focus.

Despite these minor deficiencies, this book has much to offer to clinicians who care for immunocompromised patients. It should be read initially and then kept as a ready reference source for more information on specific infections. After a diagnosis has been made, electronic databases are useful for finding more information, but a color atlas of this type is indispensable for suggesting which infections agent may be causing specific lesions. Rapid diagnosis and treatment are essential in immunocompromised patients, and any tool that aids in this process is valuable.