Includes index.

Introduction to microbiology -- Microbial nutrition, growth, and control -- Microbial metabolism -- Microbial molecular biology and genetics -- The diversity of the microbial world -- Ecology and symbiosis -- Pathogenicity and host response -- Microbial diseases, detection, and their control -- Applied microbiology.

This eighth edition continues to present material in short chapters organized thematically into nine separate sections. Shorter chapters are less daunting and more 'digestible' for most students. Furthermore, they offer the professor a greater degree of flexibility so that the order in which chapters are covered can be tailored to meet the needs of an individual class.