Manual of basic techniques for a health laboratory, 2nd edition

Bulletin of the World Health Organization, March, 2004 by John Elliot

Publisher: World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland; 2003 ISBN 92 4 154530 5; paperback; 384 pages; price: Swiss Francs 50/US$ 45 (developing countries Swiss Francs 35)

The first edition of this manual was published in 1980. This new edition updates many of the procedures and techniques that have become obsolete in the intervening period. The authors set out to produce a manual that could be used as a basic tool by technicians working in medical laboratories in small or medium-sized hospitals or in dispensaries attached to rural health centres in developing countries. They have achieved their goal.

The manual is easy to read and, while in the words of the authors, purposefully not full of complex terminology, it provides good definitions and...