Familiarity with nitric oxide is essential to a modern understanding of pathophysiologic mechanisms of infectious disease. Recent research has established nitric oxide and related reactive nitrogen intermediates to be important molecular mediators of diverse physiologic processes such as control of vascular tone, regulation of the immune system, and microbial and tumor cell growth. This work contains chapters by leading researchers in the field and examines the biology and biochemistry of nitric oxide and its role in a variety of specific infections ranging from sepsis, tuberculosis and malaria to viral myocarditis, influenza, and AIDS.
