We have attempted to write a book totally orientated towards prevention and tlzerupy
of viral disease, either by antivirals or vaccines. There are many excellent
text books and reviews of basic and molecular virology, viral diagnosis of infectious
disease and immunological effects of virus disease but, more often than not, in these
texts, vaccines and antivirals are mentioned en passant at the end of the book and
certainly only briefly. ‘Vaccinology’ encompassing new developments in immunogenic
short peptides, genetically cloned viral antigens and site-specific mutagenesis
to produce live attenuated viruses is a fast moving field; so is antivirals, with exciting
developments with new and effective compounds inhibiting herpes viruses. I t
i s an opportune moment to look in a broad way at viral diseases, to see how much
progress has been made, how far there is to go and in what direction. Viewed in
this way, the achievements have already been many and varied. But there have been
some serious setbacks as well and these should be thoroughly comprehended and
are discussed in this book.
