The Role of Animals in Emerging Viral Diseases

When viruses jump species, the result can be catastrophic, causing disease and death in humans and animals. HIV-AIDS, SARS, Ebola, avian flu, swine flu, and rabies are all emerging or re-emerging infectious diseases caused by such zoonotic transmissions. These 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.The Role of Animals in Emerging Viral Diseases presents what is currently known about the role of animals in the emergence of these viruses. 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. Specialists in each of 13 emerging zoonotic viruses present detailed information on each virus's structure, molecular biology, current geographic distribution, and method of transmission. The book 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.