In this period of obvious natural emergence of viral and other diseases, it is unclear as to what diseases are emerging, why they are emerging, and what, if anything, can be done to prevent or diminish their impact. This book, a compendium of presentations made at an international meeting of experts, provides summaries of areas of concern and details as to how disease agents such as Nipah and Hendra viruses in Australasia and West Nile virus in the Americas might have suddenly appeared. Either by alterations in natural habitats and diversity or by chance, pathogens emerge from time to time. This book addresses various aspects of such emergences, such as pathogenetic mechanisms of viruses, diagnosis of viral infections, viral host-management strategies, viral genetics, vaccine development and application. It is especially valuable for laboratory virologists, disease ecologists, physicians, and those who want to understand the complexities of viral characteristics.

Zoonotic viruses of wildlife: hither from yon.- The role of surveillance in polio eradication and identification of emerging viral encephalitis.- Emergence and virulence of encephalitogenic arboviruses.- Molecular determinants of virulence of West Nile virus in North America.- Genetic determinants of Venezuelan equine encephalitis emergence.- Evolution and dispersal of encephalitic flaviviruses.- West Nile virus and other zoonotic viruses in Russia: examples of emerging-reemerging situations.- Emerging encephalitogenic viruses: Iyssaviruses and henipaviruses transmitted by frugivorous bats.- Novel viral encephalitides associated with bats (Chiroptera) - host management strategies.- Henipaviruses: recent observations on regulation of transcription and the nature of the cell receptor.- The entry machinery of flaviviruses.- Persistent infection and suppression of host response by alphaviruses.- Subversive neuroinvasive strategy of rabies virus.- Neurovirulence and host factors in flavivirus encephalitis - evidence from clinical epidemiology.- Regulation of apoptosis by viruses that infect insects.- Semliki Forest virus infection of laboratory mice: a model to study the pathogenesis of viral encephalitis.- A novel principle of attenuation for the development of new generation live flavivirus vaccines.- Tick-borne encephalitis and the impact of vaccination.- Future vaccines against emerging encephalitides.- Recombinant canarypoxvirus vaccine carrying the prM/E genes of West Nile virus protects horses against a West Nile virus-mosquito challenge.- Diagnosis of zoonotic viral encephalitis.