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...