Field of medicine: Infectious disease, immunology, and viral oncology.

Format: Softcover book.

Audience: Medical and graduate students, scientists engaged in HIV and AIDS research, and health care providers.

Purpose: To provide a current overview of the rapidly changing field of HIV disease, with particular emphasis on basic and clinical scientific advances made since the first edition was published in 1994.

Content: The book distills the vast literature on HIV and AIDS that has accumulated in the past 4 years and places it in context with earlier work. An introductory chapter discusses the first description of AIDS and the discovery of HIV; other chapters address pathogenesis, the immune response to HIV, carcinogenesis, antiviral therapies, and vaccine development. Appendices include clinical categories and case definitions of AIDS. The reference section is exhaustive.

Highlights: The book is balanced and well organized and includes helpful subtitles at the beginning of each chapter. It has many clear illustrations (several in color) and summary tables of important text. The "Salient Features" section at the end of each chapter concisely summarizes the major points of the text.

Limitations: The rate of progress in this field prevents the book from being truly up to date.

Related reading: Although one might be able to obtain more current information from journals or annual research reviews, nowhere is an update of the field presented more comprehensively.

Reviewer: Mark T. McNally, PhD, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, Wisconsin.