Men, microbes and medical microbiologists

‘The publisher is to be congratulated on producing this 12x9-inch, 327-page book, with splendid color reproductions on glossy stock. Men, Microbes and Medical Microbiologists will obviously appeal to philatelists, especially those in medicine, but is also useful to historians for the depiction of the evolving social issues in medicine and to those who appreciate the artistic endeavor involved in showing or saying so much, with so much clarity and impact, in a small rectangle’.
Robert J. T. Joy, MD, Emeritus Professor Uniformed Services University Bethesda, Md.
JAMA, 292 (2004) 2919-2920 - December 15th 2004.

‘Het boek is zonder meer uniek. Men, Microbes and Medical Microbiologists is in strikte zin geen studieboek. Het is gewoon een boek om te hebben en nooit meer weg te doen’.
Dr. M.F. Peeters, Nederlands Tijdschrift voor Medische Microbiologie, 12 (2004) 42.

Preface; Introduction; Concise History of Medical Microbiology; Microscopy; Contagion; Theories and controversies; Louis Pasteur; Robert Koch; Bacteriology; Serotherapy and vaccination; The sanitary movement; Antibiotics; Serology and immunology; Virology; Recent developments; History of Infectious Diseases; Smallpox; Plague; Cholera; Yellow Fever; Typhus; Tuberculosis; Malaria; Leprosy; Syphilis; Polio; Parasitic Tropical Diseases; AIDS; Acknowledgements; Index.

Han T. Siem, M.D. was born in 1939 in Indonesia. He studied medicine in Amsterdam and graduated in 1962. He practiced medical microbiology in the Netherlands for well over thirty years. He was appointed Honorary Member of the Dutch Society for Medical Microbiology in 1998. Over twenty years he was Lecturer in Diagnostic Bacteriology and Infectious Diseases at the HAN University, Nijmegen, the Netherlands. He retired in 2000 and since then is living in Clearwater, Florida.
His thematic exhibit ‘Microbes and Man’ was awarded a Gold medal at the International Thematic Philatelic Exhibition ‘Genova 92’. For several years he was Delegate for the Netherlands in the FIP Thematic Commission. He served as Juror for the Thematic Class in several International Philatelic Exhibitions.