Bücher der Reihe Archives of Virology. Supplementa

In this period of obvious natural emergence of viral and other diseases, it is unclear as to what diseases are emerging, why they are emerging, and what, if anything, can be done to prevent or diminish their impact. This book, a compendium of presentations made at an international meeting of experts, provides summaries of areas of concern and details as to how disease agents such as Nipah and Hendra viruses in Australasia and West Nile virus in the Americas might have suddenly appeared. Either by alterations in natural habitats and diversity or by chance, pathogens emerge from time to time. This book addresses various aspects of such emergences, such as pathogenetic mechanisms of viruses, diagnosis of viral infections, viral host-management strategies, viral genetics, vaccine development and application. It is especially valuable for laboratory virologists, disease ecologists, physicians, and those who want to understand the complexities of viral characteristics.

In this period of obvious natural emergence of viral and other diseases, it is unclear as to what diseases are emerging, why they are emerging, and what, if anything, can be done to prevent or diminish their impact.

Presents twenty-six invited speakers' data on the pathogenesis of prion diseases in humans and animals, on molecular mechanisms involved in the transmissibility across species barriers, on animal and in-vitro models currently available for the detection and quantification of infectivity and on the characterization of prion strains.

Recently, rapid developments have occurred in the field of viral gastroenteritis. Among the various agents that cause viral gastroenteritis, group A rotaviruses and caliciviruses are the focus of this volume because of their clinical impact and the significance of new findings about them.

Since the central theme of this book is the transmission of disease agents through the food chain, we will examine influenza viruses from this perspective. The reservoirs of influenza A viruses The available evidence indicates that aquatic birds are the reservoirs of all 15 subtypes of influenza A viruses.

Scrapie, a naturally occurring neurodegenerative disease of sheep and sometimes goats, is a prototypic disease for the whole group of the subacute spongiform virus encephalopathies.

The Fifth Report of the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV), summarizes the proceedings and decisions reached by the ICTV at its meetings held at the International Congresses of Virology in Sendai (1984), Edmonton (1987) and Berlin (1990).

Findings concerning various clinical manifestations in cattle and sheep have made it clear that pestivirus infections in ruminants have an economic impact similar to hog cholera.

A collection of essays intended to provide readers with an integrated view of the geographical distribution, properties and effects, recognition and prevention of infection regarding these viruses. Included are papers describing newly recognized viruses and techniques for diagnosis and detection.

This is the first comprehensive review of the world literature on filovirus research and provides the most extensive bibliography of the subject yet published. Every aspect of filovirus research, including their history, epidemiology, clinical picture, pathology, molecular biology, and political aspects are reviewed in detail.

This volume of research papers focuses on prion-related diseases, with special emphasis placed on human and bovine spongiform encephalopathies and Borna disease virus, an agent known to be pathogenic to horses and sheep, but now discussed as a potential pathogen for humans.

Positive-strand RNA viruses include the majority of the plant viruses, a number of insect viruses, and animal viruses, such as coronaviruses, togaviruses, flaviviruses, poliovirus, hepatitis C, and rhinoviruses.

A number of economically important diseases are caused by potyviruses, the largest group of plant viruses. Main topics dealt with in detail are: serological relationships, nucleic acid sequence information, biological properties, and specific problems with several virus subgroups or pairs of viruses.

African horse sickness virus is a double-stranded RNA virus which causes a non-contagious, infectious arthropod-borne disease of equines and occasionally dogs.

African horse sickness virus is a double-stranded RNA virus which causes a non-contagious, infectious arthropod-borne disease of equines and occasionally dogs.

A comprehensive understanding of the biology of prion diseases is crucial for risk assessment as regards both humans and animals. To further the communication of the current knowledge and the exchange of diagnostic technologies in the scientific community, a symposium on the 'Characterization and Diagnosis of Prion Diseases' was held from September 23-25, 1999 in Tübingen, Germany. The overwhelming interest and the participation of more than 500 scientists from 26 countries made this symposium the largest meeting ever held in the field.In this Supplementum to Archives of Virology twenty-six invited speakers comprehensively present their data on the pathogenesis of prion diseases in humans and animals, on molecular mechanisms involved in the transmissibility across species barriers, on animal and in-vitro models currently available for the detection and quantification of infectivity and on the characterization of prion strains. This selection attempts to reflect the current state of the art, but cannot possibly represent the whole spectrum of research in the prion field.

Virology Division. International Union of Microbiological Societies.

Chronic viral hepatitis is discussed here in a multidisciplinary approach. A key element in the chronic evolution of viral hepatitis is the persistent coexistence of a cytotoxic immune response and viral gene expression which is discussed in eleven articles on immune pathogenesis.

In view of the interest in developing vaccines against other herpes viruses, there was also a presentation on the current status of vaccines against cytomegaloviruses (CMV) at the conference.

Chronic viral hepatitis remains one of the major medical problems worldwide. The chronic disease caused by hepatitis viruses type B, C and D is a much greater problem than the acute disease caused by the same viruses or by hepatitis viruses type A and E.