Jürgen A. Richt – författare

This volume provides an overview of the processes of zoonotic viral emergence, the intricacies of host/virus interactions, and the distinct role of biological transitions and modifying factors. The process of emergence is conceptualized as two transition stages which are common and required for all disease emergence, human contact with the infectious agent and cross-species transmission of the agent, and two transition stages which are not required for emergence and appear unavailable to many zoonotic pathogens, sustained human-to-human transmission and genetic adaptation to the human host. The latter two transitions are presumably prerequisites for the pandemic emergence of a pathogen. The themes introduced herein are amplified and explored in detail by the contributors to this volume. Each author explores the mechanisms and unique circumstances by which evolution, biology, history, and current context have contrived to drive the emergence of different zoonotic agents by a series of related events; although recognizable similarities exist among the events leading to emergence the details and circumstances are never repetitive.

This volume offers an overview of the processes of zoonotic viral emergence, the intricacies of host/virus interactions, and the role of biological transitions and modifying factors. The themes introduced here are amplified and explored in detail by the contributing authors, who explore the mechanisms and unique circumstances by which evolution, biology, history, and current context have contrived to drive the emergence of different zoonotic agents by a series of related events.

From the first detailed clinical description of the disease in the Midwestern United States in 1918, to the isolation of the causative agent, the first of any influenza virus, in 1930 to its role in the genesis of the 2009 human pandemic, swine have played a central role in the ecology of influenza.