Over the generations the skin has been the site for immunization against smallpox. This method of immunization was described in a letter written by Lady Mary Montagu on April 1, 1717 in Adrianopole, Turkey: "The small-pox, so fatal, and so general amongst us, is here entirely harmless by the invention of ingrafting, which is the term they give it. . . The old woman comes with a nut-shell full of the matter of the best sort of small-pox . . . She immediately rips open (the skin) with a large needle . . . and puts into the vein as much venom as can lie upon the head of her needle, and after binds up the wound. There is no example of anyone that died of it; and you may believe that I am satisfied of the safety of this experiment since I intend to try it on my dear little son" (Letters from the right Honourable Lady Mary Montagu 1709-1762. Published by J. M. Dent and Co. London, 2nd edition, September, 1906, p. 124. ) The "variolation" method was, 80 years later, markedly improved by the use of cowpox virus, as reported by Edward Jenner in 1796. The successful method of intradermal immunization against smallpox and later against other virus diseases is in fact based on the presence of anitigen-presenting dendritic cells in the skin.

Product Description: The studies presented in this special issue of VIRUS GENES provide information on the two aspects of virus evolution: the ancient evolution of viruses from the time prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells evolved, and the ongoing process of the current molecular evolution of viruses...read more

Product Description: The basis for the effective treatment and cure of a patient is the rapid diagnosis of the disease and its causative agent, which is based on the analysis of the clinical symptoms coupled with laboratory tests. Although rapid advance­ ments have been made in the laboratory diagnosis of virus diseases, the neces­ sary isolation of the causative virus from the clinical specimens is a relatively long procedure...read more

Product Description: Research on antiviral drugs and their mode of action in infected cells. in animals and in man. has led to a better understanding of the molecular pro­ cesses involved in virus replication. Screeninq of large numbers of natural and semisynthetic compounds resulted in the characterization of certain sub­ stances that had a limited efficiency as antiviral druqs...read more

Product Description: Biosynthesis of cellular and viral DNA and RNA has been a major topic in molecular biology and biochemistry. The studies by Arthur Kornberg and his colleagues on the in-vitro synthesis of DNA have opened new avenues to understanding the processes controlling the duplication of the genetic information encoded in the DNA and RNA of bacterial and mammalian cells...read more

Product Description: Shortly after the reeognition of the aequired immunodefieieney syndrome (AIDS) in 1981 (1-3), it was hypothesized that herpesviruses may play an important role in the etiology or pathogenesis of this newly identified syndrome (4,5)...read more

Product Description: The nucleotide sequence of the gene from which messenger RNA mole­ cules are transcribed is in a form that can be translated by cellular ribosomes into the amino acid sequence of a particular polypeptide, the product of the gene...read more

Product Description: African swine fever (ASF) is caused by a virus that is classified as a member of the Iridovirinae family. The disease in the warthog, the natural host, in Africa was described in 1921 by R. E. Montgomery. The reservoir of the vi rus is inti cks...read more

Product Description: The development of recombinant DNA technology has made a marked impact on molecular virology. The cleavage of viral DNA genomes with restriction enzymes and the cloning of such DNA fragments in bacterial p1asmids has led to the amplification of selected viral DNA fragments for sequencing and gene expression...read more

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Product Description: Today the diagnosis of human and animal pathogenic viruses would be unthinkable without the polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The short-styled protocols in this volume elucidate this important technique and its application in the laboratory, including a discussion of recent advances in PCR technology...read more

Six members of the Herpesviridae family are human pathogens, including herpes and 2 (HSV-I and 2), Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), varicella zoster simplex virus I virus (VZV), human cytomegalovirus (HCMV), and human herpesvirus 6 (HHV 6). Each of these viruses is capable of causing distinct diseases of varying severity in children, young adults, and the aged. The diseases range from infection of epithelial tissue to the infection of internal organs and white blood cells. A common feature of the six pathogenic human herpesviruses is their ability to latently infect different cell types in which the viral DNA is not integrated and is unable to express its pathogenicity. Reactivation of the herpesviruses is a result of cellular processes which reactivate viral genes, leading to virus progeny and to signs of infection. Due to their ability to become latent after initial infection, once the pathogenic herpesviruses infect children they are maintained throughout life, having the potential of cause various diseases upon reactivation.

Product Description: Biosynthesis of cellular and viral DNA and RNA has been a major topic in molecular biology and biochemistry. The studies by Arthur Kornberg and his colleagues on the in-vitro synthesis of DNA have opened new avenues to understanding the processes controlling the duplication of the genetic information encoded in the DNA and RNA of bacterial and mammalian cells...read more