This is book is a relatively condensed yet very readable overview of avian influenza, which will serve as an excellent resource for those entering the field, or for those who wish to keep abreast of developments in this high profile area. It ranges from the historical aspects (covered in the Foreword and in a later dedicated chapter), through epidemiology and phylogeny of recent outbreaks to investigation of host-range and virulence determinants by 'reverse-genetics'. These aspects are set in context by consideration of the current H5N1 panzootic and the 1918 H1N1 pandemic. The book is therefore not restricted to avian disease, but approaches evolution of pandemic viruses, in chapters on pigs as hosts, receptor specificity, polymerase function and the origins of the 1918 H1N1 virus. Aspects relevant to practical control, from mechanisms of pathogenesis to the use of vaccines and antivirals, are also well covered.

In addition to descriptions of the well-reported Italian outbreaks, it is good to see coverage of H5N1 in Asia and Europe, though I am surprised the H5N2 outbreak in Mexico was not included. The latter would have provided authoritative information, which is not available in Europe, on the practical and extensive use of the live recombinant vaccines, to supplement information on their use in China.