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SUMMARY:Emerging virus infections and novel intervention strategies - Prof
 essor Ab Osterhaus\, Department of Virology\, Erasmus Medical Centre\, Rot
 terdam
DTSTART:20100127T163000Z
DTEND:20100127T173000Z
UID:TALK22374@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Suzy Blows
DESCRIPTION:In the past century\, pandemic outbreaks of influenza and AIDS
  have cost the lives of tens of millions of people. These events were all 
 caused by multiple introductions of animal viruses – influenza A viruses
  and SIV of birds and non-human primates respectively – into the human p
 opulation. Besides these introductions causing major pandemics in humans\,
  a large number of other virus infections have spilled over from animal re
 servoirs to humans or other susceptible species\, resulting in considerabl
 e morbidity and mortality as “virgin soil” epidemics. The most recent 
 examples in humans are the introduction of SARS coronavirus and influenza 
 A viruses (H5N1 and H7N7) from the animal world\, which caused global conc
 ern about their potential to be at the origin of new pandemics. Over the l
 ast decades there seems to be a dramatic increase in the emergence or re-e
 mergence of virus threats in humans and animals worldwide. A long list of 
 exotic names like Ebola\, Lassa\, Rift-Valley\, Crimea-Congo\, Hendra\, Ni
 pah and West-Nile is the illustration of names of just some of the places 
 associated with the origin of viruses that crossed the species boundary to
  humans\, with dramatic consequences in the last ten years alone. Similarl
 y\, recent mass mortalities among wild aquatic and terrestrial mammals cau
 sed by previously known and newly discovered morbilliviruses\, as well as 
 outbreaks of hog cholera\, foot-and-mouth disease and fowl plague among do
 mestic animals\, highlight this trend.\nAlthough improved detection and su
 rveillance techniques\, as well as increased media attention may have cont
 ributed to our perception of an increase in the incidence of outbreaks of 
 virus infections\, it is becoming more and more clear that major changes i
 n our modern society increasingly create new opportunities for virus infec
 tions to emerge: a complex mix of changes in social environments\, medical
  and agricultural technologies and ecosystems continues to create new nich
 es for viruses to cross species boundaries and to rapidly adapt to new spe
 cies. In combating this global threat\, we should make optimal use of the 
 new tools provided by the unprecedented advances made in the research area
 s of molecular biology\, epidemiology\, genomics and bioinformatics. Espec
 ially the role of early warning systems based on state of the art virus de
 tection and discovery techniques\, as well as targeted intervention strate
 gies based on data on the mutual virus-host interaction\, obtained from mo
 dern genomics studies\, have already shown to make the difference in deali
 ng with recent viral threats like SARS and avian influenza.
LOCATION:Lecture Theatre 1\, Department of Veterinary Medicine
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