New Developments in Diagnostic Virology

The contributions to this book derived from the Seventh Munich Symposium on Microbiology on June 3 and 4, 1981, which was organized by the WHO Centre for Collection and Evaluation of Data on Comparative Virology at the Institute of Medical Microbiology, Infectious and Epidemic Diseases, University of Munich, Federal Repub­ lic of Germany. One of our principal purposes was to establish a forum at which the comparative aspects of questions of current interest in the field of medical virology could be discussed. In addition to the presentation of recent fmdings in microbiology, our overall aim was to crystallize trends and indicate new directions for future research activities. This book is a topical review of "New Horizons in Diagnostic Virology." Every­ one interested in virology is aware of the tremendous progress made in viral diagnostic techniques during recent years and the growing importance of viral diagnosis in human and veterinary medicine. There is yet another step that diagnostic virology has to take: the introduction on a routine basis of methods of molecular biology into the viral diagnostic laboratory. The application of monoclonal antibodies and techniques for the chemical and biological identification of proteins, carbohydrates, and enzymes are discussed, as is the introduction of techniques for the characterization of nucleic acids in viral diag­ nosis.