Infectious Diseases From Nature: Mclaughlin Symposium

描述(由申请者提供)：“来自自然的传染病：病毒出现和持续的机制”会议将汇集基础病毒学家和其他微生物学家的国际观众，重点讨论非人类起源的新出现的传染病。我们预计，将于2004年3月19日至21日在得克萨斯州加尔维斯顿举行的这次会议将导致一场强有力的跨学科讨论，讨论那些正在从非人类来源向人类传播的新出现的传染病的独特方面。为期2.5天的会议的总体目标将致力于新兴疾病领域的先驱--Dr。罗伯特·E·肖普的目标是提高对这些疾病背后的生态、它们的致病性、它们在人类体内持续存在和生存的方式以及公共卫生系统如何应对它们的理解。我们预计，介绍在揭开遗传背景以及这些疾病的进化和传播手段方面的最新进展将对几个领域的个人--那些目前试图在普通人群中控制新出现的病毒的人，以及正在开发疫苗以预防或减轻这些疾病的严重表现的科学家--有用。因此，我们认为，将调查人员聚集在一起处理其特定领域的最新事态发展可能会在传染病领域带来新的视角。因此，会议将寻求确定共同主题，以便就今后的研究方向达成共识。计划举行四个主题会议：(1)定量生态学研究对我们了解这些疾病的贡献；(2)病媒和宿主中感染的发病机制；(3)增强病原体在其病媒和宿主中的持久性的机制；以及(4)病原体确保其长期存活的手段。在这些会议上，将讨论啮齿动物传播的病毒，例如汉坦病毒；蚊媒病毒，例如西尼罗河病毒；丝状病毒(例如埃博拉病毒)；甲型病毒(裂谷热病毒)和其他病毒，包括艾滋病毒和SARS。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The meeting "Infectious Diseases From Nature: Mechanisms of Viral Emergence and Persistence" will bring together an international audience of basic virologists and other microbiologists, to focus on a discussion of emerging infectious diseases having non-human origins. We anticipate that this meeting, to be held March 19-21, 2004 in Galveston, Texas will result in a robust interdisciplinary discussion of the unique aspects of those emerging infectious diseases that are moving from non-human sources to humans. The overall goal of the 2.5-day conference, which will be dedicated to a pioneer in the emerging diseases field--Dr. Robert E. Shope, is to develop a heightened understanding of the ecology underlying these diseases, their pathogenicity, the means by which they persist and survive in humans, and how public health systems can cope with them. We anticipate that presentation of the recent progress in unraveling the genetic backgrounds and the means by which these diseases evolve and spread will be useful to individuals in several fields--those currently attempting to control emerging viruses in the general population, as well as scientists who are developing vaccines to prevent or allay the serious manifestations of these diseases. Thus, we believe that bringing investigators together to address recent developments in their specific areas may lead to new perspectives in the realm of infectious diseases. Accordingly, the meeting will seek to identify common themes that will allow a consensus to be developed concerning future directions for research. Four themed sessions are planned: (1) The contribution of quantitative ecological studies to our understanding of these diseases; (2) Pathogenesis of infections in vectors and reservoirs; (3) Mechanisms that enhance persistence of the agents in their vectors and reservoirs; and (4) The means by which agents assure their survival over long periods of time. In these sessions, there will be discussion of rodent-borne viruses, e.g., hantavirus; mosquito-borne viruses, e.g. West Nile; filoviruses (e.g. Ebola); alphaviruses (Rift Valley Fever Viruses) and others, including HIV and SARS.