Viruses, plagues, and history: past, present, and future

Viruses, plagues, and history. A general introduction. Introduction to the principles of virology. Introduction to the principles of immunology

Success stories. Smallpox. Yellow fever. Measles virus. Poliomyelitis

Present and future challenges. An overview of newly emerging viral plagues : the hemorrhagic fevers. Lassa fever. Ebola. Hantavirus. Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) : the first pandemic of the twenty-first century. West Nile virus : deaths of crows and humans. Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) : AIDS, the current plague. Mad cow disease and Englishmen : spongiform encephalopathies-Prion disease. Influenza virus, the plague that may return. Conclusions and future predictions.