uses case studies to illustrate how the infectious disease clinician processes and integrates data to arrive at a diagnosis. This type of hands-on approach, invaluable in training programs, is utilized to take the reader through initial patient encounter, through the history and physical examination, to simple laboratory findings and stains, to a final diagnosis, in a way that is easily accessible to clinicians, students, and laboratory personnel working with clinical specimens. is an essential resource for clinicians, graduate and medical school students, and others conducting medical and clinical microbiology or infectious disease research on real patients.