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....

Under sponsorship of the National Institutes of Health of Japan, an international conference entitled "Immunity and Prevention of Herpes Zoster" was held in 1 Osaka, Japan, March 8-10, 1999. Attendees included basic and clinical investi gators from Asia, Europe, and North America. The meeting was organized to explore progress made in basic virology and molecular understanding of varicella zoster (VZV), and to provide information on current knowledge of latency of VZV in humans. Updates on the immunology responses of humans to VZV, and a description of the current status of varicella vaccine...

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 Tubingen, 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...

This volume summarizes selected papers presented at two symposia convened in the fall of 1989. The papers include information on the molecular biology, antigenicity, diagnosis, epidemiology, clinical aspects, pathogenesis, vaccines and other aspects of haermorrhagic fever with renal syndrome and tick (tick-borne encephalitis, Congo-Crimean haemorrhagic fever, Duqbe, orbiviruses, orthomyxoviruses) and mosquito-borne (California serogroup, alphaviruses from Mongolia, sandfly fevers in Central Asia and Afghanistan) viruses. Although covering a wide range of subjects and perspectives, the book is...

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. Early data justified the classification of pestiviruses as a genus of nonarthopod-borne togaviruses. Since pestiviruses are difficult to work with, progress in understanding the virus and disease gradually came to a standstill because conventional techniques failed to yield further insights. About ten years ago interest in pestivirology was revived by strong impulses of modern biotechnology and a breakthrough in...

A number of economically important diseases are caused by potyviruses, the largest group of plant viruses. Many of these diseases are distributed worldwide. The development of effective control strategies against viruses is dependent on the availability of reliable methods of identification and detection. To date this has not seemed possible for the potyvirus group, because of its size, complexity, and immense variation. This book brings together the collaborative efforts of exports in the field. It summarizes characteristics of potyviruses which relate to their taxonomy and points to areas...

Among unconventional agents and unclassified viruses the contributions to this volume focused on prion-related diseases, with special emphasis on bovine spongiform encephalopathy and human spongiform encephalopathies, and Borna disease virus, an agent known since long time to be pathogenic for horses and sheep, which is now discussed as a potential pathogen for humans. Additionally, the volume contains articles about newly discovered viruses like porcine respiratory and reproductive syndrome virus and viruses that are classified only provisionally like African swine fever virus, hepatitis C...

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.

African horse sickness virus is a double-stranded RNA virus which causes a non-contagious, infectious arthropod-borne disease of equines and occasionally dogs. Nine distinct, internationally recognised serotypes of the virus have so far been identified. This book is based upon the findings of two programmes funded by the European Commission. It will be of value not only to the specialist research workers but also to veterinary workers dealing with control and to legislators seeking to promote safe international movement of equines. The topics covered include state-of-the-art discussions on...