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Achieving operative excellence is an important endeavour for all companies – it is the golden path that leads to increased value over the long term. Through this book you too can achieve operations excellence within your own company.

It is with great pleasure that we introduce the first volume of Birkhäuser Advances in Infectious Diseases. This book series focuses on relevant and trending topics in microbiology and infectious diseases with emphasis on emerging pathogens and related diseases. This interdisciplinary series presents latest advances and new approaches in molecular biology as well as insights into human and veterinary clinical medicine. Furthermore, matters in epidemiology, disease management, hygiene and prevention of infectious diseases are discussed. Emerging or novel pathogens are a grand challenge in medical science. Therefore, we focused the first volume of this series on the outbreak of SARS. The advent of SARS is a threat for people around the globe. Our modern technologies in communication and mobility have figuratively transformed the world into a village. This traffic, however, reprensents a new opportunity to spread diseases, particularly such of infectious nature from tiny villages throughout the entire world. In-depth knowledge of a novel pathogen's characteristics will help to manage or event prevent pandemias.

The aim of this book is to provide a comprehensive overview of animal testing in the four major fields of infectiology - bacteriology, virology, mycology and parasitology - as well as in the development of vaccines. New and innovative techniques are introduced and their efficacies critically discussed. In addition, the book shows ways to refine, reduce and replace animal tests in infectiological research and considers ethical aspects of their use. A valuable source of information, this publication will be of interest to research scientists, regulatory agencies, veterinarians supervising experimental animals, breeders and anyone involved in the public debate on animal testing.

Bartonella henselae is a bacterial pathogen that has been observed in sections of clinical specimen from patients with cat scratch disease. The first cultivation of this organism was successful in the early 1990s, and its biology and medical implications are still under extensive investigation. This book gives an overview of the clinically relevant aspects of the bacterial genera Bartonella and Afipia, with special focus on the species Bartonella henselae. Written by international experts in the field, chapters extensively discuss human diseases caused by B. henselae, covering diagnostics, pathology and therapy as well as the latest research findings and modern molecular biological techniques. Consideration is also given to epidemiological aspects in human and animal infections, with special emphasis on the application of new molecular methods for the characterization of isolates. In summary, this is a unique and very comprehensive description of what is currently known about this emerging pathogen. The book is highly recommended for clinical microbiologists and specialists in infectious diseases, physicians in general and internal medicine, epidemiologists and molecular biologists, and will also be of interest to pathologists, dermatologists, veterinarians and AIDS researchers.