New Challenges to Health: The Threat of Virus Infection (review)

New Challenges to Health is a good book. The editors have put together 15 excellent chapters by contributors who presented papers at the Sixtieth Symposium of the Society for General Microbiology, held at Heriot-Wat University in the United Kingdom. The book is for graduate students, for infectious disease physicians, for researchers on emergent diseases, and for students interested in biological warfare issues. Although the references do not go beyond 2000 (the meeting was held in March 2001), the book certainly does not have an aura of being dated and is highly readable. In fact, the book makes eminent sense in light of the anthrax spore-containing letters sent after the September 11 attacks and the SARS outbreak of 2003.

The book starts with a crisply written chapter by C.J. Peters on the viruses in our past and the viruses in our future. This is an extremely well written contribution that touches on the pivotal factors that contribute to emerging viral diseases. Peters also rightfully deplores the fact that regulations for working scientists have become prohibitions and that the resources provided for research cannot satisfy these overblown regulatory demands.

The editors have chosen leaders in their field who provide insightful and concise summaries of their areas. A case in point is R.M. Elliot's contribution on bunyaviruses, probably one of the biggest virus families, with many members deserving the adjective emergent. Although hantavirus has received the most publicity in recent years, another fascinating story is the recent isolation in Kenya of the highly virulent hemorrhagic Garissa virus, which is a reassortant virus deriving one of its three RNA segments from an unknown virus and the two other genes from a bunyavirus that is innocuous for humans.

An elegant contribution on the hepatitis A, B, C, D, and E viruses is provided by S.M. Lemon. These five horsemen of the Apocalypse appear to change their disease patterns with changing social and sanitary conditions.

One of the best presentations I have ever read on myxoma viruses and the Australian rabbit is by B.J. Richardson. The emergence of this rabbit pox virus and of a calicivirus (rabbit hemorrhagic disease virus, RHDV) in the rabbit population of Australia was a manmade event that can teach us many lessons, in particular, "No good deed goes unpunished." This chapter should be mandatory reading for every microbiology student.

The chapter on HIV by R.A. Weiss and H.A. Weiss is particularly insightful. It reminds us that HIV was not a problem 20 years ago and that today more than 50 million people have been infected worldwide.

D.J. Gubler points out that 3 billion people currently live in areas at risk for infections by dengue virus, and we cannot predict what the future will hold with respect to this viral pathogen. Not only are viruses threats in terms of emerging diseases, but also, as J.P. Stoye points out, they may limit the possible use of xenotransplants from pigs and other animals. It is possible that viruses stand in the way of making organ transplantation a medical breakthrough from which many patients could benefit.

New Challenges to Health is a fascinating and important book that comes at a critical time when the world is concerned about not only old and new emerging diseases but also the potential use of viruses as biological warfare agents.