James LaCourse and Ralf Weigel in Liverpool 

Top ten books for students of tropical medicine

Getting ready to head back to lessons or just want to top up your knowledge? Two academics share their recommended reading
  
  

Student reading / sleeping in the park / garden with a book over her face
These books might not be light reading but James and Ralf see them as essential texts. Photograph: incamerastock / Alamy Photograph: incamerastock / Alamy/Alamy

1. Medical Entomology for Students by Mike Service (2012)

Perhaps the single most popular book with students regarding the subject of vectors of disease currently held on our library shelves. This book is of particular interest to field, laboratory and clinical students of medical entomology and parasitology.

2. Travel Medicine by Jay Keystone et al (2013)

Updated appropriately to reflect changes in the epidemiology of diseases in the tropics and advances made in the field, this is an excellent textbook from a practitioner’s perspective. Clearly written and very useful, though it is a bit pricey it offers great value for money.

3. Lecture Notes: Tropical Medicine by Nick Beeching and Geoff Gill (2014)

This is a book written by clinicians for clinicians. The previous editions were very popular among our postgraduate students because of the book’s hands-on approach. It provides all the essentials of what you need to know when you are working as a doctor in a tropical country.

4. Manson’s Tropical Diseases by Jeremy Farrar et al (2014)

The sheer wealth and breadth of information from a range of global experts in the field of tropical medicine make this text an essential resource for students of tropical health and disease.

5. Evolutionary Parasitology: the Integrated Study of Infections, Immunology, Ecology, and Genetics by Paul Schmid-Hempel (2011)

This book is popular with students and researchers of parasitology. It offers the reader a thought-provoking insight into the fascinating area of host-parasite relationships from immunology to genetics.

6. Atlas of Tropical Medicine and Parasitology by Wallace Peters (2007)

The excellent range of images presented make this text a must for students studying tropical medicine and parasitology within the clinic, laboratory or the field.

7. An Introduction to Health Planning for Developing Health Systems by Andrew Green (2007)

This book has already stood the test of time. It offers a general, yet informed, introduction to students, giving them a broad overview of the subject area. If you have - as a clinician for example - relatively little prior experience with programming and budgeting for primary healthcare, then this is the book to read. It gives you a practical introduction to planning including the challenges.

8. Roitt’s Essential Immunology by Peter Delves et al (2011)

This book has proved popular with a range of students from introductory level to those wishing to expand their knowledge a little further into clinical applications. The easy-to-read “recap” and “summary” sections provide ideal revision and/or refresher opportunities also.

9. Oxford Handbook of Tropical Medicine by Robert Davison et al (2014)

A concise handbook with up-to-date information about the most common conditions and diseases in the tropics - a good very reference manual.

10. Control of Human Parasitic Diseases by David Molyneux (2007)

This remains an extremely popular text for students. It provides an expert introduction to the programmatic control of the major parasitic diseases of humans, monitoring and evaluation of strategies, interventions, and health policy systems.

Dr James LaCourse is a senior lecturer in parasitology and Dr Ralf Weigel is a senior clinical lecturer, both at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine. Follow @LSTMnews on Twitter.

Read more stories like this:

Quiz: what do you know about tropical diseases?

12 tips for getting a job in international development

Breakthrough in rapid diagnostics: using magnets to test for malaria

• Advertisement feature: Harmonisation: improving support for malaria control

Join our community of development professionals and humanitarians. Follow @GuardianGDP on Twitter.

 

Leave a Comment

Required fields are marked *

*

*