Читать книгу Principles of Virology, Volume 2 - Jane Flint, S. Jane Flint - Страница 53
Perspectives
ОглавлениеA fundamental principle of virology is that for a virus to be maintained in a host population, sufficient quantities of infectious virus particles must be released from one infected host to infect another. This process of serial infection, while simple in principle, is difficult to study in natural systems given the mind-boggling number of host, viral, and environmental variables. Nevertheless, epidemiology, the study of this process, is evolving rapidly as new ways to track and identify infectious agents are developed. To thwart a potential epidemic, viral epidemiologists must master diverse skills. In tracking the origins of infection, epidemiologists must consider simultaneously multiple variables and clues, some of which are false leads. They must understand the dynamics of the animal or human populations at risk and how aspects of behavior, social structure, and environment might influence the potential for infection. Epidemiologists must then integrate these diverse pieces of information. Furthermore, as investigation often begins only after an epidemic is under way and victims have been identified, they must be able to work under great pressure, within a constrained time frame, and often under intense media scrutiny and dangerous work conditions. We are witnessing these pressures and challenges in real time, as epidemiologists struggle to contain the worldwide pandemic caused by the SARS-Coronavirus-2 (Box 1.13). Individuals working in computer science, bioinformatics, frontline health care delivery, public policy, and international medicine also are crucial for successful control of a viral outbreak. Containing an epidemic under diverse, often unknown, pressures is a monumental challenge, especially when no certain therapy exists that can be offered to patients, and when, as Zinsser first surmised in the 1930s, the “enemy” may lurk in a ubiquitous and minuscule organism, such as the mosquito.