The Role of Animals in Emerging Viral Diseases

About this book

The Role of Animals in Emerging Viral Diseases presents what is currently known about the role of animals in the emergence or re-emergence of viruses including HIV-AIDS, SARS, Ebola, avian flu, swine flu, and rabies. It presents the structure, genome, and methods of transmission that influence emergence and considers non-viral factors that favor emergence, such as animal domestication, human demography, population growth, human behavior, and land-use changes.

When viruses jump species, the result can be catastrophic, causing disease and death in humans and animals. These zoonotic outbreaks reflect several factors, including increased mobility of human populations, changes in demography and environmental changes due to globalization. The threat of new, emerging viruses and the fact that there are no vaccines for the most common zoonotic viruses drive research in the biology and ecology of zoonotic transmission. In The Role of Animals in Emerging Viral Diseases, specialists in 11 emerging zoonotic viruses present detailed information on each virus' structure, molecular biology, current geographic distribution, and method of transmission. The Role of Animals in Emerging Viral Diseases discusses the impact of virus emergence by considering the ratio of mortality, morbidity, and asymptomatic infection and assesses methods for predicting, monitoring, mitigating, and controlling viral disease emergence. It analyzes the structure, molecular biology, current geographic distribution and methods of transmission of 10 viruses. It provides a clear perspective on how events in wildlife, livestock, and even companion animals have contributed to virus outbreaks and epidemics. It exemplifies the "one world, one health, one medicine" approach to emerging disease by examining events in animal populations as precursors to what could affect humans.

Contents

Foreword
Introduction

Chapter 1: Foot & Mouth Disease
Chapter 2: Canine Parvovirus
Chapter 3: Rabies
Chapter 4: Lassa virus
Chapter 5: Hendra virus
Chapter 6: West Nile virus
Chapter 7: Rift Valley fever virus
Chapter 8: SIV/HIV
Chapter 9: Hantavirus
Chapter 10: Nipah virus
Chapter 11: Synthesis

Customer Reviews

Biography

Nick Johnson has worked in biological research for over 20 years working on projects as diverse as HIV pathogenic mechanisms to transmission of bat borne diseases. The main focus of his research over the past fourteen years has been the investigation of the epidemiology and disease mechanisms of zoonotic viruses including rabies virus, West Nile virus and tick-borne encephalitis virus. He has published extensively through original research in peer-review journals, commissioned reviews and book chapters.