Table of Contents

Part I: Viruses, Plagues, and History
1: A General Introduction
2: Introduction to the Principles of Virology
3: Introduction to the Principles of Immunology
Part II: Success Stories
4: Smallpox
5: Yellow Fever
6: Measles Virus
7: Poliomyelitis
Part III: Present and Future Challenges
8: An Overview of Newly Emerging Viral Plagues: The Hemorrhagic Fevers
9: Lassa Fever
10: Ebola
11: Hantavirus
12: Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS): The First Pandemic of the 21st Century
13: West Nile Virus: Deaths of Crows and Humans
14: Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV): AIDS, the Current Plague
15: Mad Cow Disease and Englishmen: Spongiform Encephalopathies--Prion or Virus Disease?
16: Influenza Virus, the Plague that May Return
17: Conclusions and Future Predictions
Captions
References
Index

About the Author

Michael B. A. Oldstone is Professor and Head of the Viral-Immunobiology Laboratory at The Scripps Research Institute. A leader in the field, he has been the recipient of numerous awards and honors and has served or serves on several national and international committees charged with understanding, treating and eliminating viral diseases. He was a consultant to the World Health Organization for the eradication of poliomyelitis and measles, and was
a member of the SAGE Executive Board. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences.

Reviews

"Readable books about viruses by experts are not plentiful enough, and the point of this essay is to recommend a recent arrival by the American virologist Michael Oldstone. In 17 chapters, the author gives the non-specialist reader a complete account of viruses and virus-caused plagues such as smallpox, yellow fever, measles, polio, hemorrhagic fever, Lassa fever, ebola, hantavirus, SARS, West Nile Virus, mad cow disease, and influenza...Read this book
(available now)--it's a treat." --Dan Agin, Huffington Post
"...marvelously clear to lay readers, yet detailed enough to please and fascinate the professional."--Doody's