The successful prophylaxis and treatment of ubiquitous respiratory infections is essential for the enhancement of public health. The chapters provide new insights into the biology of causative pathogens, tackle the epidemiological aspects, and present an update on diagnostics, prevention and therapy of infections.

The book presents the latest advances in research into health effects of air pollution, with heavy motor vehicle traffic or cigarette smoke as the exemplar of pollution.

The book provides reader-friendly information on aspects of pulmonary infections, including comprehensive accounts of bacterial and viral diseases, therapeutic approaches, molecular and classical culture-related techniques of diagnosis and explaining the basic cell biological mechanism.

The book blends basic and clinical research on respiratory carcinogensis. The focus is on the search for novel molecular markers, derived from easily accessible tissues in clinical settings, such as the serum or bronchoalveolar lavage fluid, which could help diagnose cancer at an early stage and have a prognostic therapeutic value.