"Designed as both a textbook and a reference, Molecular Epidemiology of Infectious Diseases: Principles and Practices outlines the principles, methods, and applications of this new discipline of public health. Techniques used in the field of molecular biology have been recognized as critical tools in solving infectious disease problems. This introductory volume, distinguishing molecular epidemiology from taxonomy and phylogeny, will familiarize epidemiologists with molecular biology and molecular biologists with epidemiology, and it will present vocabulary and concepts of both fields to infectious disease clinicians."--BOOK JACKET.