Emerging Viruses Edited by Stephen Morse (review)

Abstract

molecular genetics. At the same time, it is an excellent resource for specific examples to illustrate concepts for a course in transmission and molecular genetics . The price is likely to discourage purchase for the personal library of teachers and graduate students interested or involved in human genetics, particularly at the molecular level, but should not discourage purchase for a departmental or institutional library. E. D. Garber Department of Ecology and Evolution University of Chicago Emerging Viruses. Edited by Stephen Morse. Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press, 1993. Pp. 317. $39.95. Man has been fascinated by epidemics since biblical times. "For now I will stretch out my hand that I may smite thee and thy people with pestilence . . ." (Exodus 9). Along with this fascination have come attempts to anticipate these epidemics and to prevent them. Stephen Morse's volume on Emerging Viruses is based on a conference that deals with these concerns. Some of the original speakers at the conference, experts in varied fields, describe virus epidemics, virus detection methods, the evolution of viruses, and recommendations regarding prevention and control of emerging viruses. These topics are especially timely because of the present HIV-I threat. It comes as a surprise to realize that this topic is actually a unique focus for a book and, as Lederberg notes in his chapter, "the present examination is virtually without precedent." Amidst the plethora of books that deal with over-worked topics related to infectious disease, this insightful volume is certainly welcome. It is readable as well as scholarly. The stage for the book is well-set by Morse's perceptive chapter "Examining the origins of emerging viruses." As noted by Morse, bona fide newly emerging viruses are generally new variants of an established virus recently introduced from another species or another population, i.e., they are "existing viruses conquering new territory." A major thesis of his and other contributors is that the emergence of new viruses results from changes in "viral traffic" due to changes in human activity or to a new movement of viral vectors or hosts. The increase in global travel, for example, provides the opportunity for infected humans returning from remote regions of the world to introduce an exotic virus to a virgin population. There are a number of remarkable examples of emerging viruses provided throughout the book that serve to support this thesis. For example, the introduction of pigduck farming in China may have permitted reassortants of influenza to arise and thereby generated a pandemic virus. Dissemination of yellow fever virus may be traced to the spread of Aedes aegypti mosquito as a result of slave trading from Africa. Dissemination of dengue to the United States may be a result of the spread of Aedes albopictus mosquito in shipments of used tires that had collected rainwater; there were over 10,000 mosquito larvae discovered in twenty tires that had been imported from Asia! Shipments of monkeys to the 610 Book Reviews United States led to a frightening Ebola virus outbreak. The origins of HIV-I, explored by Myers, et al., still remain a mystery. It seems surprising that there is little mention of the origins of the poliovirus and smallpox epidemics and their control. A general premise of the book is the inevitability of emerging viruses and disasters related to them. McNeill notes that such disasters are partly a result of our "intervention in the natural ecosystem." As an analogy, he points out the potential dangers of trying to erect dikes to control the Mississippi River; this seems a particularly prescient statement considering the recent tragic consequences of flooding in the Midwest. McNeill cautions that "we create new situations that become unstable" and that the institution of more rigid control of infectious agents similarly makes us more vulnerable to the emergence of new agents and devastating pandemics. On a somewhat somber note, he remarks that the best we can hope is to try to limit the extent of the catastrophe. Fortunately , survival seems likely since viruses must adapt to the constraints of a new host (and at times the virus must also retain the ability to spread via a vector). This plasticity is a result of the ability of viruses to...