Acanthamoeba: Biology and Pathogenesis

The importance of the genus Acanthamoeba has been growing because of the increasing number of human infections and the ability as a reservoir host for pathogenic microbes of this amphizoic amoeba. The most important value of the book is the variety of topics on Acanthamoeba research. The next will be the easy written sentences to follow for the beginners of Acanthamoeba research even for those who live in non-English spoken countries.

The author reviewed almost all aspects of Acanthamoeba research to date and composed this book with 9 sections; Biology and Phylogeny, Life Cycle and Genotyping, Acanthamoeba Infections, Pathogenesis, Immune Response, Strategies against Acanthamoeba Infections, Acanthamoeba; Trojan Horse of the Microbial World, Conclusions and Future Studies, and Bibliography. Each section describes central themes and gives the outline of recent research on each topic.

One of the excellency of this book is numerous diagrams and illustrations to schematize the concepts and cascades of chemical reactions in metabolism and pathogenesis. Some figures showing the basic principle concepts of Acanthamoeba research especially in pathogenesis are expected to be cited continuously to describe these principles.

The most creative section of this book to me is 'Acanthamoeba; Trojan Horses of the Microbial World'. This section describes the role and importance of Acanthamoeba as a vector or a vehicle for pathogenic microbes from environment to humans. The author also introduced the historical event of Legionnaires' disease happened in 1976 in detail.

In the 'Conclusions' section, the author listed the future research tasks on Acanthamoeba. Well trained researchers are needed to propel the development of strategies in the prevention, pathogenesis, and therapy for Acanthamoeba infection and this book will be very helpful for this purpose.