Mirjam Kretzschmar - Böcker

Hardly a day goes by without news headlines concerning infectious disease threats. Currently the spectre of a pandemic of influenza A|H1N1 is raising its head, and heated debates are taking place about the pro’s and con’s of vaccinating young girls against human papilloma virus. For an evidence-based and responsible communication of infectious disease topics to avoid misunderstandings and overreaction of the public, we need solid scientific knowledge and an understanding of all aspects of infectious diseases and their control. The aim of our book is to present the reader with the general picture and the main ideas of the subject. The book introduces the reader to methodological aspects of epidemiology that are specific for infectious diseases and provides insight into the epidemiology of some classes of infectious diseases characterized by their main modes of transmission. This choice of topics bridges the gap between scientific research on the clinical, biological, mathematical, social and economic aspects of infectious diseases and their applications in public health. The book will help the reader to understand the impact of infectious diseases on modern society and the instruments that policy makers have at their disposal to deal with these challenges. It is written for students of the health sciences, both of curative medicine and public health, and for experts that are active in these and related domains, and it may be of interest for the educated layman since the technical level is kept relatively low.

This edited volume contains a selection of chapters that are an outgrowth of the - ropean Conference on Mathematical and Theoretical Biology (ECMTB05, Dresden, Germany, July 2005). The peer-reviewed contributions show that mathematical and computational approaches are absolutely essential to solving central problems in the life sciences, ranging from the organizational level of individual cells to the dynamics of whole populations. The contributions indicate that theoretical and mathematical biology is a diverse and interdisciplinary ?eld, ranging from experimental research linked to mathema- cal modelling to the development of more abstract mathematical frameworks in which observations about the real world can be interpreted and with which new hypotheses for testing can be generated. Today, much attention is also paid to the development of ef?cient algorithms for complex computations and visualization, notably in molecular biology and genetics. The ?eld of theoretical and mathematical biology and medicine has profound connections to many current problems of great relevance to society. The medical, industrial, and social interests in its development are in fact undisputable. Insights and predictions from mathematical modelling are used increasingly in de- sion support in medicine (e.g., immunology and spread of infectious diseases, cancer research, cardiovascular research, neurological research, optimization of medical tre- ments,imaging),environmentalandnaturemanagement,climateproblems,agriculture and management of natural resources. Fast developments in areas such as biotechn- ogy (e.g., genome projects, genetic modi?cation, tissue engineering) continue to add new focal points of activity to the ?eld. The contributions of this volume capture some of thesedevelopments.