Principles and Practice of Clinical Virology

There has been a spectacular increase during the last 30 years in our knowledge of virology. This has taken place to such an extent that virology can now be regarded as an umbrella term encompassing a variety of distinct but related disciplines. There are fundamental connections with biochemistry, genetics and molecular biology, and each of these aspects would be worth a treatise in itself. Clinical virology is that aspect which is concerned with the cause, diagnosis, treatment and prevention of virus infections of man. It too has acquired a substantial body of knowledge and accumulated experience over the past 30 years and this book is intended to be an authoritative account of the pressent situation. Formerly virological diagnosis was time consuming, retrospective and rarely influenced the management of the patient. During the past 10-15 years the picture has changed dramatically. Newly recognized diseases such as AIDS and some haemorrhagic fevers which have very serious consequences for individuals and populations have been shown to be due to viruses.
Finally, effective anti-viral chemotherapy is a reality at least for some virus infections and there has been an expansion in the use of immunoprophylaxis. Thus the current principles and practice of clinical virology are concerned with rapid laboratory diagnosis leading to appropriate patient management which might involve specific therapy and/or infection control measures at a hospital, a national and occasionally at an international level. Chapters are arranged on the basis of indivdual viruses or groups of viruses. General chapters on virus structure, taxonomy and pathogensis are not included but the information on these aspects necessary foran understanding of the practice of clinical virology is included in the individual chapters. Clinical virology is a subject which continues to evolve. This is usually for one of two reasons, either the need to apply new technology or the need to study new diseases or epidemiological situations. The editors invited authors who are specialist investigators into each of the viruses to contribute up-to-date, stimulating accounts of the practice of clinical virology and provide a framework for the assimilation of imminent advances.