- Email: [email protected]
Foreword
Veterinary Microbiology 77 (2000) 1
Foreword This special issue of Veterinary Microbiology contains articles which were presented at the Fourth Pestivirus Meeting held in Giessen, Germany, from 15 to 19 March 1999. The respective series of meetings started in 1990. From the beginning it was the intention to bring together people from all over the world who are interested in very different aspects of pestiviruses. The diverse parts are re¯ected by the various contributions and include epidemiology and control, diagnosis and heterogeneity, pathogenesis, immunology, replication and vaccine development. Since the ®rst pestiviral genome was cloned and sequenced almost 15 years ago, enormous progress towards the molecular biology of these fascinating viruses has been made, including the availability of so-called infectious clones for more than 5 years. However, knowledge about the biology of pestiviruses is still very limited. Several aspects like pathogenesis, cellular receptors, structure of virions, etc., remain to be studied and present promising research areas. Understanding the basis of the biology of pestiviruses will certainly have major impact not only for basic research but also for prevention and combat of the pestivirus induced diseases. The upcoming Pestivirus Meetings will continue to provide the respective links. I would also like to thank the following donors for their support:
Intervet International B.V., Boxmeer, Netherlands. Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica GmbH, Ingelheim, Germany. Bayer AG, Leverkusen, Germany. Hoechst Roussel Vet GmbH, Wiesbaden, Germany. Heinz-JuÈrgen Thiel Institut fuÈr Virologie, Justus-Liebig-UniversitaÈt Giessen Fachbereich VeterinaÈrmedizin, Frankfurter Str. 107 35392 Giessen, Germany Tel.: 49-641-99-38350; fax: 49-641-99-38359 E-mail address: [email protected] (H.-J. Thiel).
0378-1135/00/$ ± see front matter # 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. PII: S 0 3 7 8 - 1 1 3 5 ( 0 0 ) 0 0 2 5 1 - 0
Foreword This special issue of Veterinary Microbiology contains articles which were presented at the Fourth Pestivirus Meeting held in Giessen, Germany, from 15 to 19 March 1999. The respective series of meetings started in 1990. From the beginning it was the intention to bring together people from all over the world who are interested in very different aspects of pestiviruses. The diverse parts are re¯ected by the various contributions and include epidemiology and control, diagnosis and heterogeneity, pathogenesis, immunology, replication and vaccine development. Since the ®rst pestiviral genome was cloned and sequenced almost 15 years ago, enormous progress towards the molecular biology of these fascinating viruses has been made, including the availability of so-called infectious clones for more than 5 years. However, knowledge about the biology of pestiviruses is still very limited. Several aspects like pathogenesis, cellular receptors, structure of virions, etc., remain to be studied and present promising research areas. Understanding the basis of the biology of pestiviruses will certainly have major impact not only for basic research but also for prevention and combat of the pestivirus induced diseases. The upcoming Pestivirus Meetings will continue to provide the respective links. I would also like to thank the following donors for their support:
Intervet International B.V., Boxmeer, Netherlands. Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica GmbH, Ingelheim, Germany. Bayer AG, Leverkusen, Germany. Hoechst Roussel Vet GmbH, Wiesbaden, Germany. Heinz-JuÈrgen Thiel Institut fuÈr Virologie, Justus-Liebig-UniversitaÈt Giessen Fachbereich VeterinaÈrmedizin, Frankfurter Str. 107 35392 Giessen, Germany Tel.: 49-641-99-38350; fax: 49-641-99-38359 E-mail address: [email protected] (H.-J. Thiel).
0378-1135/00/$ ± see front matter # 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. PII: S 0 3 7 8 - 1 1 3 5 ( 0 0 ) 0 0 2 5 1 - 0