The basis for the effective treatment and cure of a patient is the rapid diagnosis of the disease and its causative agent, which is based on the analysis of the clinical symptoms coupled with laboratory tests. Although rapid advance ments have been made in the laboratory diagnosis of virus diseases, the neces sary isolation of the causative virus from the clinical specimens is a relatively long procedure. Viruses which integrate into the cellular DNA (such as human immunodeficiency virus, HIV -1, or hepatitis B virus) are difficult to identify by molecular techniques, while viruses which...

In this book the current knowledge on human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) as a human pathogen is lucidly summarized, bringing the reader fully up to date with current knowledge concerning HCMV and all the known clincial and medical aspects of diseases caused by, and associated with, HCMV. The book is divided into four parts: (I) Human cytomegalovirus and human diseases; (II) human cytomegalovirus infections and the immunocompromised host; (III) diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of human cytomegalovirus and human diseases; and (IV) molecular aspects of human cytomegalovirus. Each part is put...

The questions of how the pathogenic human herpesviruses cause diseases, and what should be done to prevent infection and disease have prompted scientific interest in the molecular basis of the functions of all human herpesvirus genes in various tissues and organs of the infected host. This volume compiles the knowledge on the pathogenicity genes of herpes simplex virus types 1 and 2, the ones which have been most actively investigated at the molecular level. It adds to the understanding of herpesvirus gene involvement in diseases and shows the potential of this knowledge for planning new...