Recent developments in the epidemiology of virus diseases and BSE

Summary There is a continuous change in viral epidemics with respect to clinical symptoms, their duration or disappearence and the emergence of new diseases. This can be observed both in human and animal diseases. This evolution of virus diseases is mainly related to three factors: etiological agent, host and environment. As far as genetic alterations of the virus are concerned, two major mechanisms are involved: 1) mutations such as recombination and reassortment; 2) selection for resistance or susceptibility. The epidemiology of newly emerged virus diseases in man and animals, such as AIDS and hemorhagic fevers, and bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), canine hemorrhagic gastroenteritis or respiratory syndrome in horses will be discussed.