Includes bibliographical references and index.

The Main Themes of Microbiology -- The Chemistry of Biology -- Tools of the Laboratory: Methods of Studying Microorganisms -- A survey of Prokaryotic cells and Microorganisms -- A survey of Eucaryotic Cells and Microorganisms -- An Introduction to Viruses -- Microbial Nutrition, Ecology, and Growth -- An Introduction to Microbial Metabolism : the chemical crossroads of life -- Microbial Genetics -- Genetic Engineering: a revolution in molecular biology -- Physical and Chemical Agents for Microbial Control -- Drugs, Microbes, Host -- The Elements of Chemotherapy -- Microbe -- Human Interactions: infection and disease -- An Introduction to Host Defenses and innate immunities -- Adaptive, Specific Immunity and Immunizations -- Disorders in Immunity -- Procedures for identifying Pathogens and Diagnosing Infections -- The Gram-Positive and Gram-Negative Cocci of Medical Importance -- The Gram-Positive Bacilli of Medical Importance -- The Gram-Negative Bacilli of Medical Importance -- Miscellaneous Bacterial Agents of Disease -- The Fungi of Medical Importance -- The Parasites of Medical Importance -- Introduction to Viruses That Infect Humans: The DNA Viruses -- The RNA Viruses That Infect Humans -- Environmental Microbiology -- Applied and Industrial Microbiology.