THE AMBASSADORS
Summer Issue
BOOK REVIEW
THE AMBASSADORS
Summer
Issue
BOOK REVIEW
Volume 2,
Issue 3
July 1999
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Genetic Disorders Edited by
Ahmed S. Teebi & Talaat I. Farag |
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This is the first textbook studying genetic disorders among an Arab population of 240 million and written by 28 experts in medical and communo-genetics. It is available in all medical libraries, universities and research centres as a key reference for all those interested in studying disease profiles in inbred populations and preventive models. It is a major and truely exceptional contribution to medical sciences. The Ambassadors have selected the reviews of five distinguished medical geneticists published in international scientific journals in Europe,UK, USA and Saudi Arabia.
In the American Journal of Medical Genetics 1998, 77: 251-252, Dr.Dhavendra Kumar from the Centre for Human Genetics, Sheffield Children's Hospital (England) reviewed the book saying:
This book is another addition to the successful series of monographs on medical genetics published by the Oxford University Press. It is an excellent book covering various aspects of genetic problems among the Arab populations spread across the north Africa and the Middle East. The book begins with an encouraging forward by Prof. Victor McKusick, the author of "Mendelian Inheritance in Man" (MIM). He is clearly impressed with the long list of new Mendelian diseases compiled by various contributors. This book should be in the departmental library of any medical/human genetics department. Apart from clinical/medical geneticists, the book is also suitable to specialists in public health medicine, physical anthropology, medical demography and health administration. Other specialists from a wide range of fields including paediatrics, fetal medicine, hematology, internal medicine and community medicine will also find the book worthwhile. Some clinical geneticists, who deal with patients and families of Arab origin frequently, might consider owning a copy.
This book is definitely of great interest to medical geneticists and related specialities of the whole world. It comprises 19 chapters by 28 contributors mostly from the Arab world, and forward by Victor A. McKusick. The book falls in 499 pages. The text is conventiently classified into five homogenous sections. The main aim of this book was to collect the most commonly reported genetic disorders in Arabs. Therefore it is the first attempt to focus on such an important community genetic topic. I thoroughly enjoyed reading all chapters of this comprehensive and systematic book, which conviently collects in one place, for the first time, commonly reported diseases among the Arabs. However, as pointed out by McKusick in his forward, "The surface may have only been scratched." I strongly recommend this book to medical geneticists and anthropologists from all over the world. I also recommend it to physicians and health providers in the Arab world to appreciate the urgent need for genetic services and researches in these countries.
Apart from its intrinsic academic interest it is bound to be useful to physicans and medical students in the Arab countries, but will also be valuable for reference for those clinicians in Britain and Europe who see patients from the Arab world, not only for the details of the diseases it contains but particularly to help them anticipate and understand the likely responses to courses of action they may consider.
To my knowledge this is the first comprehensive book on genetic disorders in the Arab population, which is very fertile and rewading area for genetic research. The multi-author book is intended to highlight prevalent conditions, and to give comprehensive coverage of contibuting factors. To that extent, the book contains five major sections discussing demographic factors, common entities, diseases in certain geographic regions, diseases in isolated communities and finally, Islamic laws of reproduction and people's attitude. The book gives a wealth of information that makes it very useful for health care professionals in Arab countries. The authors and editors should be commended for a comprehensive and clearly written volume.
This book is an excellent overview of the genetic disorders among Arabs with special emphasis on their special demographic features, their cultural and religious attitudes towards these disorders and the special genetic counselling approach needed because of that. This is a valuable overview of the genetics disorders among Arabs. It is a good reference to both the practicing physician and the geneticist.
The Editors of this book are:
Dr. Ahmed S. Teebi FRCP (Edin), FACMG
Professor of Medical Genetics, University of Toronto, Ontario
Dr. Talaat I. Farag FRCP (Edin), FACP
Adjunct Professor, Dalhousie University, Nova Scotia
