Encyclopedia of virology. v. 1 / editors-in-chief Brian W.J. Mahy and Marc H.V. Van Regenmortel. — 3rd ed. — Amsterdam ; London : Academic, c2008. – (58.679072/E56/3rd ed./v.1)

Contents

    PREFACE
    
    This third edition of the Encyclopedia of Virology is being published nine years after the second edition， a period which has seen enormous growth both in our understanding of virology and in our recognition of the viruses themselves， many of which were unknown when the second edition was prepared. Considering viruses affecting human hosts alone， the worldwide epidemic of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS)， caused by a previously unknown coronavirus， led to the discovery of other human coronaviruses such as HKU1 and NL63. As many as seven chapters are devoted to the AIDS epidemic and to human immunodeficiency viruses. In addition， the development of new molecular technologies led to the discovery of viruses with no obvious disease associations， such as torque-teno virus (one of the most ubiquitous viruses in the human population)， human bocavirus， human metapneumovirus， and three new human polyomaviruses.
     Other new developments of importance to human virology have included the introduction of a virulent strain of West Nile virus from Israel to North America in 1999. Since that time the virus has become established in mosquito， bird and horse populations throughout the USA， the Caribbean and Mexico as well as the southern regions of Canada.
     As in the two previous editions， we have tried to include information about all known species of virus infecting bacteria， fungi， invertebrates， plants and vertebrates， as well as descriptions of related topics in virology such as antiviral drug development， cell- and antibody-mediated immunity， vaccine development， electron microscopy and molecular methods for virus characterization and identification. Many chapters are devoted to the considerable economic importance of virus diseases of cereals， legumes， vegetable crops， fruit trees and ornamentals， and new approaches to control these diseases are reviewed.
     General issues such as the origin， evolution and phylogeny of viruses are also discussed as well as the history of the different groups of viruses.
    To cover all these subjects and new developments， we have had to increase the size of the Encyclopedia from three to five volumes.
     Throughout this work we have relied upon the 8th Report of the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses published in 2005， which lists more than 6000 viruses classified into some 2000 virus species distributed among more than 390 different genera and families. In recent years the criteria for placing viruses in different taxa have shifted away from traditional serological methods and increasingly rely upon molecular techniques， particularly the nucleotide sequence of the virus genome. This has changed many of the previous groupings of viruses， and is reflected in this third edition.
     Needless to say， a work of this magnitude has involved many expert scientists， who have given generously of their time to bring it to fruition. We extend our grateful thanks to all contributors and associate editors for their excellent and timely contributions.
    
    Brian WJ Mahy
    Marc H V van Regenmortel