The sixth edition of Kucers’ The Use of Antibiotics – a clinical review of antibacterial, antifungal, antiparasitic and antiviral agents – is a timely and welcomed addition to the rather scant updated literature dealing with these topics. The first edition of this book was published by Kucers from Australia almost 40 years ago, in 1972. The last edition before this, the fifth edition, was published in 1997 and 13 years later comes this edition. Over the years, this book has grown to include in the current edition two volumes, 258 chapters and 3157 pages.
The editor-in-chief, Lindsay Grayson, from Melbourne, Australia, who is currently the Chair of the Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents & Chemotherapy Program Committee of the American Society of Microbiology, one of the most important antibiotic meetings globally, is the right person to edit this monumental book.
The section editors are also known authorities in these fields and include: Suzanne Crowe, James McCarthy, John Mills, Johan Mouton, Ragnar Norrby, David Paterson and Michael Pfaller.
Kucers’ The Use of Antibiotics stands out among other textbooks as Robert Moellering writes in his Introduction to the current edition, in that it brings together an unmatched compendium of updated information – a therapeutic encyclopedia indeed that is intended for clinical use and encompasses all treatments, systemic and local, for all treatable infectious diseases be they bacterial, fungal, viral or parasitic.
Kucers, who died in 2007, was an outstanding Australian physician who edited the first edition single handed and it is therefore justified that Grayson as well as the majority, but certainly not all the contributors to this monumental textbook, are Australian as well.
The chapters on antibiotics are concise, with most of the compounds having their chemical formulas and the chapters are wisely divided into the different indications those agents may serve. The chapters are all extremely well referenced and highly relevant to the practicing infectious diseases expert, but less so for the laboratory microbiologist. In the chapters on antibiotics, agents that are out of the market, or in very little use, are also described in great detail, for example, mezlocillin, azlocillin, biapenem, cephalothin, cefoperazone, faropenem, kanamycin, telithromycin, lincomycin, garenoxacin, enoxacin, tosufloxacin, fleroxacin and dalbavancin. As these agents are no longer in use, this information is probably redundant. However, I am impressed with the amount of information on new antibiotics that have just recently been introduced onto the market, for example, ceftobiprole, cefraroline and telavancin, or that are still in various development phases such as iclaprim and oritavancin. In a world of increasing bacterial resistance and a pipeline for new antibiotics that is almost bare, one is compelled to use older antibiotics (e.g., polymyxins and chloramphenicol), nevertheless, the chapters describing these older agents agents, in my view, should have stressed more and expanded on the use of these agents for modern antibiotic-resistant infections.
A total of 180 pages are dedicated to the classical and second-line anti-TB agents providing an excellent review of all that is available for the therapy of this infection. I would have liked to have seen a table with recommendations of strategies for first- and second-line treatments with the various agents both for susceptible and resistant (multidrug-resistant and extensively drug-resistant) TB.
The chapter on antifungal agents for systemic infections, including amphothericin B and its derivatives, the echinocandins, terbinafine, the azoles and 5FC, include around 200 pages, are comprehensive and concise and are probably the best description of this class of agents one can find today in the current literature. A whole chapter is wisely dedicated to new antifungal agents that are still under development, as this is the cutting edge of new therapies, and in this field of systemic fugal infection therapy, one expects to see the largest progress. Topical fungal agents are also adequately covered and comprehensive. Antimalarial agents also receive a substantial description, covering 115 pages with all available agents. It is particularly pleasing to see the artemisinin group of agents so well covered as it is particularly difficult to collect concise information about the use of these agents. I would have liked to have seen something on antimalarials in Phase II and III trials as this field is lacking in alternative treatment options. The chapter on agents against intestinal parasites is rich in data and references and covers almost all agents except for emetine, which for some reason is not described here. The section on agents against helminths is also comprehensive and contains all the relevant information. The chapter on antiherpes agents is comprehensive and detailed and stretches over 141 pages and includes all current and future agents. Anti-HIV agents compose several chapters including 163 pages on reverse transcriptase inhibitors, which also include nonreverse transcriptase agents (zidovudine and lamuvidine), non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors, protease inhibitors, fusion inhibitors and CCR5 inhibitors, and all provide a complete picture of the available arsenal for the treatment of various stages of HIV infection. New agents active against hepatitis B such as adefovir dipivoxil, telbivudine, torcitabine, valtorcitabine and clevudine, are also described despite their very scant use in clinical practice to date. Anti-hepatitis C agents are also described in depth, including not only the current agents (interferons, and ribavirine and viramidine) but also agents that inhibit the hepatitis C protease and polymerase that are on the verge of being introduced into clinical practice. Agents active against respiratory viruses and particularly against influenza are described in great detail and include amantadine and rimantadine, zanamivir and its polymeric conjugates and, of course, oseltamivir and peramivir. It is somewhat unfortunate that the recent global experience of the 2009 Mexico H1N1 epidemic with these agents has not been included. The index in the second volume is excellent and comprehensive and makes a search in these two volumes easy and user friendly. In the next edition, both volumes would benefit from a separate index, each with a designation of the volume number of the searched item.
In summary, this sixth edition of Kucers’ The Use of Antibiotics is one of the most updated comprehensive compendiums on this subject. The book is a must in all hospitals and medical libraries.
Financial & competing interests disclosure
The author has no relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript. This includes employment, consultancies, honoraria, stock ownership or options, expert testimony, grants or patents received or pending, or royalties.
No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.