Virus Variability, Epidemiology and Control / Edition 1

by Edouard Kurstak, R.G. Marusyk, F.A. Murphy, M.H.V. Van Regenmortel

Overview

Virus Variability and Impact on Epidemiology and Control of Diseases E. Kurstak and A. Hossain I. INTRODUCTION An important number of virus infections and their epidemic developments demonstrate that ineffec­ tiveness of prevention measures is often due to the mutation rate and variability of viruses (Kurstak et al., 1984, 1987). The new human immunodeficiency retroviruses and old influenza viruses are only one among several examples of virus variation that prevent, or make very difficult. the production of reliable vaccines. It could be stated that the most important factor limiting the effectiveness of vaccines against virus infections is apparently virus variation. Not much is, how­ ever, known about the factors influencing and responsible for the dramatically diverse patterns of virus variability. II. MUTATION RATE AND VARIABILITY OF HUMAN AND ANIMAL VIRUSES Mutation is undoubtedly the primary source of variation, and several reports in the literature suggest that extreme variability of some viruses may be a consequence of an unusually high mutation rate (Holland et al., 1982; Domingo et al., 1985; Smith and Inglis, 1987). The mutation rate of a virus is defined as the probability that during a single replication of the virus genome a particular nucleotide position is altered through substitution, deletion, insertion. or recombination. Different techniques have been utilized to measure virus mutation rates, and these have been noted in the extent of application to different viruses.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780306433597
Publisher:	Springer US
Publication date:	09/30/1990
Series:	Applied Virology Research , #2
Edition description:	1990
Pages:	368
Product dimensions:	7.01(w) x 10.00(h) x 0.03(d)

Table of Contents

Genome and Antigenic Variability of Retroviruses.- Genetic Variation in Retroviruses.- Human Immunodeficiency Virus Variation and Epidemiology of Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome and Human Immunodeficiency Virus Infection.- Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome.- Escape of Lentiviruses from Immune Surveillance.- Visna Virus Genome.- In Vivo and In Vitro Selection of Equine Infectious Anemia Virus Variants.- Genome and Antigenic Variability of Myxoviruses and Paramyxoviruses.- Evolutionary Lineages and Molecular Epidemiology of Influenza A, B, and C Viruses.- Antigenic and Genetic Variation of Influenza A(H1N1) Viruses.- Antigenic Variation among Human Parainfluenza Type 3 Viruses.- Genes Involved in the Restriction of Replication of Avian Influenza A Viruses in Primates.- Newcastle Disease Virus Variations.- Variability of Picornaviruses and Rotaviruses.- Molecular Epidemiology of Wild Poliovirus Transmission.- Virus Variation and the Epidemiology and Control of Rhinoviruses.- Genetic Variability and Antigenic Diversity of Foot-and-Mouth Disease Virus.- Analysis of Rotavirus Proteins by Gene Cloning, Mutagenesis, and Expression.- Virus Hemorrhagic Fevers.- The Molecular Epidemiology of Dengue Viruses.- Hantavirus Variation and Disease Distribution.- Nairoviruses.

Editorial Reviews

Eighteen contributed chapters summarize the latest research data related to the genetic organization, mutations, and recombinations of several viruses of importance to medical and veterinary practice, discussed in relation to pathogenicity and to the understanding of virus evolution and the need for new vaccines based on the molecular epidemiology of viruses. Special attention is given to the variation of human immodeficiency virus in the context of genetic evolutionary changes observed for several other retroviruses. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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