Book Review: 2011 EMRA Antibiotic Guide by Brian J. Levine MD

I’ve been looking for a book like this for years before I finally stumbled upon this one.

2011 EMRA Antibiotic Guide (2010), by Brian J. Levine MD is a simple, straightforward 128-page guide to antibiotic therapy. For almost any infectious disease, the text advises you about which antibiotic to use, along with the appropriate dose, route, frequency and duration. In addition, the text provides you with various alternatives and contingency antibiotic choices for special situations such as allergies, pregnancies, etc.

There are some gaps in the book that I think are worth mentioning. For example, there is no antibiotic menu for sepsis in adults. Also, the guide is emergency medicine focused so an office-based issue such as H. pylori eradication isn’t covered at all.

Overall, the guide is concise, “Board-worthy” and memorizable. It is a core title in Infectious Diseases: A Curriculum for Self-Guided Learners, and I recommend it very highly to doctors and to doctors in training.

Update: the 2013 EMRA Antibiotic Guide is now available online and in book stores. This new edition does contain antibiotic recommendations for sepsis.