Introduction to Modern Virology
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15
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Praised forits clarity of presentation and accessibility, Introduction to Modern Virology has been a successful student text for over 30 years. It provides a broad introduction to virology, which includes the nature of viruses, the interaction of viruses with their hosts and the consequences of those interactions that lead to the diseases we see. This new edition contains a number of important changes and innovations including: The consideration of immunology now covers two chapters, one on innate immunity and the other on adaptive immunity, reflecting the explosion in knowledge of viral interactions with these systems. The coverage of vaccines and antivirals has been expanded and separated into two new chapters to reflect the importance of these approaches to prevention and treatment. Virus infections in humans are considered in more detail with new chapters on viral hepatitis, influenza, vector-borne diseases, and exotic and emerging viral infections, complementing an updated chapter on HIV. The final section includes three new chapters on the broader aspects of the influence of viruses on our lives, focussing on the economic impact of virus infections, the ways we can use viruses in clinical and other spheres, and the impact that viruses have on the planet and almost every aspect of our lives. A good basic understanding of viruses is important for generalists and specialists alike. The aim of this book is to make such understanding as accessible as possible, allowing students across the biosciences spectrum to improve their knowledge of these fascinating entities.
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Nice introductory reading in virology. But rather soon it turns into somewhat fluent overview of known facts. It's clear, that viruses difficult to be studied and described in such a strictly systematic manner as cellular forms of life e.g. Procaryota/Eukaryota.
First part of the book is kind of compendium of general facts about distinct viruses and their families, which lead to some less or more general conclusions. Next, comes the part where are described some selected species of importance to human being, animals and plants (primarily as pathogenic agents ofc). There, in my mind, one would expect more details on the physiology of those. But this is not the case. Probably, this would blow book volume drastically... So this is why it's called introduction, after all.
Unlike some other books of this ilk, this one doesn't contain such basics like f.ex. extensive DNA structure description, biosynthesis and host biology info. So, some prerequisites in biology required. As viruses still remain a moving target in numerous aspects, this book unavoidably misses things. Not pretending to be comprehensive, it is just a trampoline. Further details have to be mined from articles (virology is not exception here, but it's affected even more than other branches of science about life). In general, what authors aim at, they definitely reach, in my opinion.
All in all, really decent reading, and worth time if you find yourself interested in the topic, have some background already, but you're not a virologist yet :)
(BTW, funny British writing makes it only better :)
PS: don't even try to dig out something COVID-19 there.
