Veterinary Virology (PDF)

by Frank Fenner

The aim of Veterinary Virology is to present the fundamental principles of virology to students of veterinary medicine and related medical, biomedical, ecological, environmental, and comparative medical sciences. It will also serve as a useful resource for clinicians, teachers, and those involved in research in many related fields of comparative medicine. The pace of change since the previous edition has been so great that the book has been completely rewritten and greatly expanded. Coverage of zoonotic viruses and the diseases they cause has been expanded as has coverage of the viruses and viral diseases of laboratory animals, poultry, fish, and wildlife. We have tried to weave the concept of new, emerging, and reemerging viral diseases into the fabric of the book, reflecting the new perspective this concept has brought to veterinary and zoonotic virology and related fields.The arrangement of the previous editions has been retained, but our account of the molecular biology of viral infections is much more detailed and more thoroughly integrated into the overall subject. Similarly, our account of viral genetics, plylogeny, and evolution has been expanded and has become a more integral part of the book. This, of course, is built on accurate and up-to-date viral taxonomic usage. The classification and nomenclature decisions of the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses, from May 1998, have been incorporated in this new edition.Part I presents an overview of the principles of animal virology, starting with the viruses themselves and progressing to the infections they cause at the level of the cell, the individual animal host and the host population. The emphasisis on pathogenesis, that is the events in the war between virus and host that we see as acute, chronic-persistent, and more subtle forms of disease. Our focus on pathogenesis naturally leads to emphasis on subjects pertaining to the host response to infection and to the means of intervening in the course of immunology, diagnostics, vaccinology, epidemiology, prevention, and control.Part II is arranged by virus family, with major subsections in each chapter providing more specific information about the viruses, their classification, their molecular properties and their replication, and on the important veterinary and zoonotic diseases caused by specific viruses. The diseases are covered from the perspective of their clinical features, their pathogenesis, pathology and immunity, their laboratory diagnosis, and their epidemiology, prevention and control.In order to focus on major virologic concepts and mechanisms that form the bases for our understanding of specific clinical diseases, minutiae have been omitted and much of the factual information is consolidated into tables.