AU Entomologist Writes THE Book on Vectors
By: Jamie Creamer
Professor Gary Mullen shows off a copy of his vector book.
Auburn University entomologist Gary Mullen, often the media's go-to man for information on disease-transmitting insects, is garnering high praises from academia for Medical and Veterinary Entomology, his debut in the book-publishing world.
The comprehensive 597-page tome clearly and completely covers 22 groups of insect and arachnid (e.g., spiders, mites and ticks) vectors that can adversely affect the health of humans and/or animals by transmitting illnesses. Each chapter gives an overview of the taxonomy, biology and ecology of a particular group, followed by a section on its medical-veterinary importance, another on control and prevention and another that lists references and suggestions for further reading.
Reviews in professional journals have hailed the book as "without a doubt the finest available in English on the subject today," as "an excellent book, probably the best text to comprehensively cover both medical and veterinary entomology" and as "a 'must have' acquisition for every biology library."
Mullen says the volume, written as a textbook for upper-level undergraduates and graduate students, was borne out of necessity.
"The textbook that nearly all college medical and veterinary entomology classes had been using for decades was first published in 1915," Mullen explains. "It had been through seven revisions, but the last one of those had been in 1979–and that was before many people had heard of diseases such as West Nile virus and Lyme disease."
Mullen took on the task of writing a new book in 1993. He recruited Georgia State University entomologist Lance Durden to serve as co-editor of the book and invited as contributing authors 23 other noted U.S. entomologists. In addition to organizing and editing the volume, Mullen and Durden wrote or helped write 10 of the 24 chapters.
Medical and Veterinary Entomology, first published in September 2002 by Academic Press, has quickly made its way into college classrooms around the country, a fact that Mullen discovered somewhat by accident.
"I went to order books last summer for my fall (2003) semester class and was told it was out of stock, and that I'd have to wait for the second printing," Mullen says.
The books arrived shortly after classes began and, for the record, received favorable reviews from Mullen's students.
While the book is billed as a textbook, its reader-friendliness makes it valuable to a broader audience, including physicians, veterinarians, public-health officials and the lay public.
Medical and Veterinary Entomology retails for $99.95 and can be ordered from a variety of sources online.