Microbiology: A Systems Approach

Key differences between 5th and 4th editions

• Time lapse between current and previous editions: 3 years (2017 vs 2014).
• Cowan's Microbiology was first published in 2005.
• The Fourth Ed. includes twenty five new Insight boxes, which you can discover on the "Difference between 5th and 4th editions" page.
• Main changes and new material in the Fifth Ed:.
• Chapter 2: How microbiome of sponges created oxygen.
• Chapter 5:
• Eukaryotic component of the human microbiome.
• Neglected parasitic infections (trichomoniasis, cysticercosis, toxocariasis, toxoplasmosis, and Chagas disease).
• Chapter 6:
• Viruses as members of the human microbiome.
• New prion diseases.
• Chapter 8: Electricity-eating microbes.
• Chapter 10: High-throughput sequencing methods, CRISPR (Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats).
• Chapter 11: Ultraviolet light and hydrogen peroxide for hospital rooms disinfection.
• Chapter 12:
• Antibiotic resistant epimutants.
• Targeting antibiotic-resistant bacteria with CRISPR.
• Chapter 13:
• Epigenetic factors in host defence and microbial pathogenesis.
• Holobionts (the host with all of its microbial symbionts).
• Chapter 14:
• Lymphatic vessels in the central nervous system.
• Disrupted microbiome as a root of autoimmune diseases.
• Chapter 15:
• Innate response activator (IRA) B cells.
• Gamma delta T cells.
• Chapter 16:
• Latest methods of prevention and treatment of allergic diseases.
• Human microbiome and autoimmunity.
• Chapter 17: Point-of-care testing.
• Chapter 19: Serogroup B Meningococcal vaccine.
• Chapter 20:
• New Lyme disease causing bacteria species.
• Babesiosis (a tick-borne malaria-like disease).
• Malaria vaccine for children.
• Chapter 21: Microbes in healthy lungs and dogma of lung sterility.
• Chapter 22: Crohn's disease and the gut microbiome.
• Chapter 23:
• Vaginal microbiome and risk of infant mortality.
• Chapter 24:
• Section 24.4 on "One Health" movement.
• Metagenomic studies conducted using high-throughput sequencing.
• Plastisphere, a new ecological community growing on the human-made plastic.
• Ocean viromes.
• Chapter 25: Biologics (biologic drugs).