Virus Research 187 (2014) 1
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Virus Research journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/virusres
Editorial
Foreword to the Virus Research Special issue on “Hantaviruses”
It has been less than 35 years since the discovery of Hantaan virus, and only 25 years since hantavirologists first assembled to share information in a formal setting. Since the isolation of Hantaan virus from Korean field mice and its identification as the etiologic agent of hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS) in the late 1970s, these previously unknown viruses have been detected worldwide in wild rodents, insectivores, and bats. The discovery of novel hantaviruses as the cause of a mysterious, highly lethal respiratory disease in the United States, hantavirus cardiopulmonary syndrome (HCPS) in 1993 led to renewed interest and intensive research on the viruses. This expansion in the field facilitated continuation of the triennial research conferences as a forum for international scientists to present their latest results and new ideas on all aspects of hantaviruses. The 9th International Conference on HFRS, HPS and hantaviruses was held June 5–7, 2013 in Beijing China. The conference included 81 oral and poster presentations, among which were 14 key note lectures, and 12 additional oral presentations selected from abstracts. There were 22 presentations on epidemiology and ecology, 15 on phylogenetics, 22 on pathogenesis and immune responses, and 22 on diagnostics, therapeutics and vaccines. Two award symposia highlighted the first day of the conference. The Ho Wang Lee Award Symposium, “Evolution of Hantaviruses and Hantavirus Research”, featured a keynote lecture by Professor HW Lee, and a lecture by the recipient of the HW Lee award, Jin-Won Song (Korea), who described historical and new information about hantaviruses in Korea. The Lee award honors Professor Ho Wang Lee who discovered Hantaan virus, and is considered the “father of hantavirology”. Other keynote speakers in the symposium were Dexin Lee (China) who presented a comprehensive overview of research on hantaviruses in China, Jan Clement (Belgium), who discussed clinical aspects of hantaviral diseases, and Luiz Tadeu Figueiredo Moraes, who provided an overview of hantaviruses in South America. The Joel M. Dalrymple Award symposium “A Look to the Future” featured two award lectures. Dr. Tatjana-Avˇsiˇc -Zˇ upanc (Slovenia) described historical and new information about Dobrava virus, a cause of severe form of HFRS in Europe. Dr. Richard Yanagihara (USA), presented his groundbreaking research on wide distribution of hantaviruses in novel, non-rodent hosts. The second day of the conference featured ecology, epidemiology and evolution keynote lectures by Heikki Henttonen (Finland), Detlev Kruger (Germany) Yong-Zhen Zhang (China), Alexander Plyusnin (Finland) and Boris Klempa (Slovakia). Colleen Jonsson
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.virusres.2014.05.005 0168-1702/© 2014 Published by Elsevier B.V.
(USA) also presented a keynote lecture on the structural biology of hantaviruses. Keynote lectures on the final day of the conference included immunology and pathogenesis presentations by Erich Mackow (USA), Ellen Krautkrämer (Germany) and Antti Vaheri (Finland), as well as a the description of a new nonhuman primate disease model for HCPS by David Safronetz (USA). In addition, Alemka Markotic´ (Croatia) presented a keynote lecture on HFRS clinical and laboratory findings and Connie Schmaljohn (USA) described the results of a Phase 1 clinical study of a DNA vaccine for HFRS. This special issue of Virus Research includes contributions from most of the keynote lecturers at this most recent conference on HFRS, HPS and hantaviruses. The papers span hantavirus research from all areas of the world where hantaviruses cause disease in humans. Most of the papers include both a review of state of the art research, as well as new information and should be a valuable compilation of current knowledge on hantaviruses. The 10th International Conference is now in preparation and will take place in Ft. Collins, Colorado in the summer of 2015 (to avoid overlapping with the meetings on Negative Strand Viruses and on filoviruses). This meeting will be organized by Dr. Tony Schountz (USA), with program content to be selected by a newly elected international panel of hantavirologists. We strongly encourage scientists working on any aspect of hantaviruses to avail themselves of the extraordinary opportunity to meet with their colleagues and peers at this beautiful venue. In times where conference attendance is seen to be wasteful by many, it is clear to those of us who had the opportunity to meet in Beijing that there is no substitute for faceto-face meetings with international colleagues. It is the best way to build trust, collaborations and long lasting friendships. We would like to thank all of the authors of this issue for their exceptional papers. We also thank the meeting attendees for their thoughtful questions to the presenters as well as their off-line discussions. We greatly appreciate the sponsors of our conference: Tuabyuan Bio Pharma, Qiagen, ThermoFisher Scientific, BioRad, Nikon, Life Technologies, Daan Gene, and Wantai BioPharm. We sincerely thank the editorial staff at Virus Research, especially the editor in-chief Luis Enjuanes, for solving the myriad of problems that we brought to them and for allowing us to have the opportunity to present this collection of hantavirus research papers. Connie Schmaljohn Alexander Plyusnin
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Virus Research journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/virusres
Editorial
Foreword to the Virus Research Special issue on “Hantaviruses”
It has been less than 35 years since the discovery of Hantaan virus, and only 25 years since hantavirologists first assembled to share information in a formal setting. Since the isolation of Hantaan virus from Korean field mice and its identification as the etiologic agent of hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS) in the late 1970s, these previously unknown viruses have been detected worldwide in wild rodents, insectivores, and bats. The discovery of novel hantaviruses as the cause of a mysterious, highly lethal respiratory disease in the United States, hantavirus cardiopulmonary syndrome (HCPS) in 1993 led to renewed interest and intensive research on the viruses. This expansion in the field facilitated continuation of the triennial research conferences as a forum for international scientists to present their latest results and new ideas on all aspects of hantaviruses. The 9th International Conference on HFRS, HPS and hantaviruses was held June 5–7, 2013 in Beijing China. The conference included 81 oral and poster presentations, among which were 14 key note lectures, and 12 additional oral presentations selected from abstracts. There were 22 presentations on epidemiology and ecology, 15 on phylogenetics, 22 on pathogenesis and immune responses, and 22 on diagnostics, therapeutics and vaccines. Two award symposia highlighted the first day of the conference. The Ho Wang Lee Award Symposium, “Evolution of Hantaviruses and Hantavirus Research”, featured a keynote lecture by Professor HW Lee, and a lecture by the recipient of the HW Lee award, Jin-Won Song (Korea), who described historical and new information about hantaviruses in Korea. The Lee award honors Professor Ho Wang Lee who discovered Hantaan virus, and is considered the “father of hantavirology”. Other keynote speakers in the symposium were Dexin Lee (China) who presented a comprehensive overview of research on hantaviruses in China, Jan Clement (Belgium), who discussed clinical aspects of hantaviral diseases, and Luiz Tadeu Figueiredo Moraes, who provided an overview of hantaviruses in South America. The Joel M. Dalrymple Award symposium “A Look to the Future” featured two award lectures. Dr. Tatjana-Avˇsiˇc -Zˇ upanc (Slovenia) described historical and new information about Dobrava virus, a cause of severe form of HFRS in Europe. Dr. Richard Yanagihara (USA), presented his groundbreaking research on wide distribution of hantaviruses in novel, non-rodent hosts. The second day of the conference featured ecology, epidemiology and evolution keynote lectures by Heikki Henttonen (Finland), Detlev Kruger (Germany) Yong-Zhen Zhang (China), Alexander Plyusnin (Finland) and Boris Klempa (Slovakia). Colleen Jonsson
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.virusres.2014.05.005 0168-1702/© 2014 Published by Elsevier B.V.
(USA) also presented a keynote lecture on the structural biology of hantaviruses. Keynote lectures on the final day of the conference included immunology and pathogenesis presentations by Erich Mackow (USA), Ellen Krautkrämer (Germany) and Antti Vaheri (Finland), as well as a the description of a new nonhuman primate disease model for HCPS by David Safronetz (USA). In addition, Alemka Markotic´ (Croatia) presented a keynote lecture on HFRS clinical and laboratory findings and Connie Schmaljohn (USA) described the results of a Phase 1 clinical study of a DNA vaccine for HFRS. This special issue of Virus Research includes contributions from most of the keynote lecturers at this most recent conference on HFRS, HPS and hantaviruses. The papers span hantavirus research from all areas of the world where hantaviruses cause disease in humans. Most of the papers include both a review of state of the art research, as well as new information and should be a valuable compilation of current knowledge on hantaviruses. The 10th International Conference is now in preparation and will take place in Ft. Collins, Colorado in the summer of 2015 (to avoid overlapping with the meetings on Negative Strand Viruses and on filoviruses). This meeting will be organized by Dr. Tony Schountz (USA), with program content to be selected by a newly elected international panel of hantavirologists. We strongly encourage scientists working on any aspect of hantaviruses to avail themselves of the extraordinary opportunity to meet with their colleagues and peers at this beautiful venue. In times where conference attendance is seen to be wasteful by many, it is clear to those of us who had the opportunity to meet in Beijing that there is no substitute for faceto-face meetings with international colleagues. It is the best way to build trust, collaborations and long lasting friendships. We would like to thank all of the authors of this issue for their exceptional papers. We also thank the meeting attendees for their thoughtful questions to the presenters as well as their off-line discussions. We greatly appreciate the sponsors of our conference: Tuabyuan Bio Pharma, Qiagen, ThermoFisher Scientific, BioRad, Nikon, Life Technologies, Daan Gene, and Wantai BioPharm. We sincerely thank the editorial staff at Virus Research, especially the editor in-chief Luis Enjuanes, for solving the myriad of problems that we brought to them and for allowing us to have the opportunity to present this collection of hantavirus research papers. Connie Schmaljohn Alexander Plyusnin
