Since the first recognition of outbreaks of cerebrospinal or spotted fever at the end of the nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth centuries, the menace of the meningococcus has been high on the list of public health prio- ties. Few if any pathogens surpass the meningococcus in the rapidity and sev- ity with which it devastates previously healthy individuals. The challenge of understanding the biology of this fascinating microbe is immense, but few will doubt that successful control of meningococcal meningitis and septicemia will only transpire through the application of a body of extraordinary detailed inf- mation, including key minutiae of its molecular biology. In the first of two companion volumes, Meningococcal Vaccines, the team of experts gathered by Andy Pollard and Martin Maiden converge to p- vide an impressive accumulation of molecular tools with which to lay bare the secrets of the meningococcus. The results of this ambitious and welcome v- ume represent an exciting and much needed resource for all of us in the field.

Meningococcal septicemia and meningitis continue to be important causes of devastating illness, death, and long-term disability in both developed and resource-poor countries of the world. Few diseases have attracted as much public attention, or are as feared by parents and family members, as well as the medical staff who have to care for affected patients. The unexpected and unp- dictable occurrence of the disease in previously healthy children and young adults, its rapid progression, and the frequent occurrence of purpura fulminans with the resulting gangrene of limbs and digits and the requirement for mutilating s- gery, have all heightened both public and medical interest in the disease. Over the past two decades there has been a rapid increase in knowledge of many aspects of meningococcal disease as a result of intensive efforts by workers in many different fields: clinicians have studied the early presenting features and acute pathophysiology of the disorder; clinical scientists have explored the immunopathological mechanisms responsible for disease and have highlighted the important roles played by the host inflammatory response and pro-inflammatory cytokines in mediating damage to blood vessels and organs; microbiologists have developed new diagnostic methods; public health phy- cians and epidemiologists have improved surveillance techniques with the help of molecular tools provided by bacterial population biologists; and basic sci- tists have used the powerful new tools in molecular and cell biology to elucidate virulence mechanisms.

Meningococcal septicemia and meningitis continue to be important causes of devastating illness, death, and long-term disability in both developed and resource-poor countries of the world. Few diseases have attracted as much public attention, or are as feared by parents and family members, as well as the medical staff who have to care for affected patients. The unexpected and unp- dictable occurrence of the disease in previously healthy children and young adults, its rapid progression, and the frequent occurrence of purpura fulminans with the resulting gangrene of limbs and digits and the requirement for mutilating s- gery, have all heightened both public and medical interest in the disease. Over the past two decades there has been a rapid increase in knowledge of many aspects of meningococcal disease as a result of intensive efforts by workers in many different fields: clinicians have studied the early presenting features and acute pathophysiology of the disorder; clinical scientists have explored the immunopathological mechanisms responsible for disease and have highlighted the important roles played by the host inflammatory response and pro-inflammatory cytokines in mediating damage to blood vessels and organs; microbiologists have developed new diagnostic methods; public health phy- cians and epidemiologists have improved surveillance techniques with the help of molecular tools provided by bacterial population biologists; and basic sci- tists have used the powerful new tools in molecular and cell biology to elucidate virulence mechanisms.

Since the first recognition of outbreaks of cerebrospinal or spotted fever at the end of the nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth centuries, the menace of the meningococcus has been high on the list of public health prio- ties. Few if any pathogens surpass the meningococcus in the rapidity and sev- ity with which it devastates previously healthy individuals. The challenge of understanding the biology of this fascinating microbe is immense, but few will doubt that successful control of meningococcal meningitis and septicemia will only transpire through the application of a body of extraordinary detailed inf- mation, including key minutiae of its molecular biology. In the first of two companion volumes, Meningococcal Vaccines, the team of experts gathered by Andy Pollard and Martin Maiden converge to p- vide an impressive accumulation of molecular tools with which to lay bare the secrets of the meningococcus. The results of this ambitious and welcome v- ume represent an exciting and much needed resource for all of us in the field.