Emerging Viral Infections

Abstract

New microbial threats to human health and survival have arisen intermittently over the centuries. The increasing global population provides greater numbers of hosts for mutational evolution and sufficient hosts to ensure maintenance of new agents; the magnitude and modes of modern travel make a larger population of susceptible people accessible and provide rapid spread of infectious agents. This milieu is particularly hospitable for viruses; therefore, in the future we can anticipate increasing numbers of emerging viral diseases. This article on microbial threats has been limited to viruses associated with neurological diseases.

Emerging Viral Infections of the Nervous System

“…New influenza viruses periodically appear; and the frequencies of neurological complications, whether Reye's disease, postinfluenzal encephalomyelitis, or encephalitis, do seem to change with these antigenic shifts. The Asian influenza of 1957, a reassortment of duck and human segments, appeared to cause higher rates of neurological complications, although no specific syndrome predominated (Johnson, 1996).…”