Biofilms are implicated in many common medical problems including urinary tract infections, catheter infections, middle-ear infections, dental plaque, gingivitis, and some less common but more lethal processes such as endocarditis and infections in cystic fibrosis.  However, the true importance of biofilms in the overall process of disease pathogenesis has only recently been recognized. Bacterial biofilms are one of the fundamental reasons for incipient wound healing failure in that they may impair natural cutaneous wound healing and reduce topical antimicrobial efficiency in infected skin wounds.  Their existence explains many of the enigmas of microbial infection and a better grasp of the process may well serve to establish a different approach to infection control and management.   Biofilms and their associated complications have been found to be involved in up to 80% of all infections.  A large number of studies targeted at the bacterial biofilms have been conducted, and many of them are referred to in this book, which is the first of its kind.   These clinical observations emphasize the importance of biofilm formation to both superficial and systemic infections, and the inability of current antimicrobial therapies to 'cure' the resulting diseases even when the in vitro tests suggest that they should be fully effective.

Introduction to Microbiology, Zoonoses and Antibiotics.- Introduction to biofilms.- Zoonotic related infections: The role of biofilms.- Biofilms and role to infection and disease in veterinary medicine.- Role of biofilms in oral health in animals.- Evidence and significance of biofilms in chronic wounds in horses.- Osteomyelitis in the Veterinary Species.- Biofilms and implication in medical devices in animals.- Bovine Mastitis and Biofilms.- Antimicrobial and biofilm resistance.