Book excerpt: The understanding and treatment of infectious and other externally-contracted diseases has been a central concern of Chinese medicine for millennia. Especially during the past few centuries, the concepts and treatment approaches of the warm pathogen disease school have percolated throughout Chinese medical thought. Modern practitioners apply them in the diagnosis and treatment of a wide variety of serious illnesses, including many which are common in the West, such as auto-immune disorders. Warm Pathogen Diseases: A Clinical Guide (Revised Edition) provides an in-depth, clinically oriented approach to this important subject. The introductory chapters tell the compelling story of how traditional Chinese physicians, primarily from the seventeenth through the nineteenth centuries, developed the theories and concepts of warm pathogen disease in response to the health crises of their time, which included a number of epidemics. The evolution of their approach to etiology, pathogenesis, diagnosis, and treatment, discussed in this volume, demonstrates how traditional medicine has evolved to meet contemporary needs. The second part of the book describes the various types of warm pathogen disease from a clinical perspective. Here the author discusses the manifestations, pathogenesis, treatment principles, and formulas for each type. Case histories show how theory is actually applied in the clinic. A variety of approaches is presented, which avoids the tendency to portray traditional Chinese medicine as an unchanging, monolithic entity. Over time, these differences have led to much creative foment and improvement in the efficacy of treatment. The author also addresses aspects of dosage and preparation that are generally omitted from standard textbooks. This part of the book will be particularly welcome to practitioners, who will find it useful in the clinic. Rounding out the volume is an extensive bibliography of original source materials, supp