Scope

The 'Emerging and Reemerging Viruses' Section of Frontiers in Virology publishes high-quality original fundamental and applied research including epidemiological and clinical reports, population-based investigations, commentaries, reviews, and other communications that address all aspects of emerging and reemerging viral diseases.

These viruses do not respect national boundaries and are often spread through both domestic and international travel as well as community transmission, presenting a potential risk to persons of all age groups, and backgrounds. Emerging infections are being seen at an unprecedented rate - people live in more densely populated areas and travel more frequently and greater distances than in the past; climate change is creating environmental disruptions and alterations of the environment affecting the distribution and prevalence of vector-borne diseases as well as the availability of water and food supplies; increasing urbanization and development with expansion of the human population into new geographical regions is resulting in persons having closer contact with wild animals and zoonotic infection; antimicrobial resistance, public health system breakdowns and declines in vaccine coverage are all important factors in the re-emergence of infectious diseases; and increasing poverty, human conflict and forced migration all contribute to the spread of infectious diseases. Emerging and reemerging viral diseases are particularly hazardous to healthcare workers, nurses, doctors, and first responders, who often experience high rates of infection. These factors and others combine to increase the potential for emerging infectious diseases to spread rapidly and cause both regional global epidemics.

Emerging and reemerging viral infections account for a significant source of morbidity and mortality and constitute one of the most important continuing public health problems in the world. The significance of these infections is evident not only with the pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) but also with such viral diseases as Zika virus, Ebola virus, dengue, chikungunya, human immunodeficiency virus, hantavirus, hepatitis E, West Nile virus, Lassa fever, influenza, yellow fever, and many others. By its very nature, the study of emerging and remerging viral diseases is interdisciplinary, involving the investigation of not only the molecular and biological aspects of the virus but also potential vectors and intermediate hosts, the environment, immunology, pathology, clinical disease, and host factors for transmission and disease which may have behavioral, physiological, and medical aspects. The Emerging and Reemerging Viruses Section will consider all basic and applied issues related to emerging and re-emerging viruses, adaptation, and evolution of the viruses, description of new viruses in detail,  and the diseases they cause include, but not limited to:

•       Biochemical, biological, and/or molecular characterization

•       Epidemiology

•       Vector, environmental, and host factors

•       Transmission dynamics and modeling

•       Pathophysiology and immunology

•       Pathology

•       Diagnostic methods

•       Treatment, prevention, and control

•       Vaccination

•       Clinical disease

•       Interactions with other infectious or non-infectious conditions

•       Special risk groups (pregnancy, elderly, immunocompromised, infants and children, high-risk behaviors, etc.)

•       Special environmental settings (refugees, conflict areas, migrants, incarcerated persons, etc.)

•       Cultural and behavioral aspects

Communications dealing with non-emerging and reemerging viruses, including aspects of basic virology, therapeutics, vaccinology, pathophysiology, evolution, host immunity and modeling of replication and transmission, do not fall within the scope of this section and should be submitted to the corresponding sections of Frontiers of Virology.

Submission

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