Emerging diseases are a major threat to modern societies, impacting individual welfare as well as economic development. The trend of newly emerging diseases has accelerated in the last two decades to such an extent that a new emerging infection is described at least once a year. The majority of such threats to modern society have been due to emergent viruses. This series of lecture notes provides grounding in understanding the drivers of disease emergence, the molecular processes which allow for virus diversity, the response of the host and environmental factors responsible for changing the balance between host and pathogen. Groups of viruses are described, each selected to illustrate certain features of disease emergence. These examples best illustrate how from past experience we may best be able to predict future outbreaks of novel diseases. Expecting the unexpected is a major challenge for health care personnel and public health officials alike, and the stakes have never been higher. As such, this book provides a timely overview of how best to prepare for disease emergence as it intends to increase awareness of how vulnerable modern society is in preparedness for such events.

Fenner and White's Medical Virology, Fifth Edition provides an integrated view of related sciences, from cell biology, to medical epidemiology and human social behavior. The perspective represented by this book, that of medical virology as an infectious disease science, is meant to provide a starting point, an anchor, for those who must relate the subject to clinical practice, public health practice, scholarly research, and other endeavors. The book presents detailed exposition on the properties of viruses, how viruses replicate, and how viruses cause disease. These chapters are then followed by an overview of the principles of diagnosis, epidemiology, and how virus infections can be controlled. The first section concludes with a discussion on emergence and attempts to predict the next major public health challenges. These form a guide for delving into the specific diseases of interest to the reader as described in Part II. This lucid and concise, yet comprehensive, text is admirably suited to the needs of not only advanced students of science and medicine, but also postgraduate students, teachers, and research workers in all areas of virology.