Contrasting the Practices of Virus Isolation and Characterization between the Early Period in History and Modern Times: The Case of Japanese Encephalitis Virus
Japanese encephalitis is a serious disease transmitted by mosquitoes. With its recent spread beyond the traditional territory of endemicity in Asia, the magnitude of global threat has increased sharply. While much of the current research are largely focused on changing epidemiology, molecular geneti...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2022-11-01
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| Series: | Viruses |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/1999-4915/14/12/2640 |
| _version_ | 1797454978059599872 |
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| author | Goro Kuno |
| author_facet | Goro Kuno |
| author_sort | Goro Kuno |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Japanese encephalitis is a serious disease transmitted by mosquitoes. With its recent spread beyond the traditional territory of endemicity in Asia, the magnitude of global threat has increased sharply. While much of the current research are largely focused on changing epidemiology, molecular genetics of virus, and vaccination, little attention has been paid to the early history of virus isolation and phenotypic characterization of this virus. In this review, using this piece of history as an example, I review the transition of the concept and practice of virus isolation and characterization from the early period of history to modern times. The spectacular development of molecular techniques in modern times has brought many changes in practices as well as enormous amount of new knowledge. However, many aspects of virus characterization, in particular, transmission mechanism and host relationship, remain unsolved. As molecular techniques are not perfect in all respects, beneficial accommodation of molecular and biologic data is critically important in many branches of research. Accordingly, I emphasize exercising caution in applying only these modern techniques, point out unrecognized communication problems, and stress that JE research history is a rich source of interesting works still valuable even today and waiting to be discovered. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T15:44:56Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-93d884edb83d40c4b47727b992cdf6de |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1999-4915 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T15:44:56Z |
| publishDate | 2022-11-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Viruses |
| spelling | doaj.art-93d884edb83d40c4b47727b992cdf6de2023-11-24T18:37:01ZengMDPI AGViruses1999-49152022-11-011412264010.3390/v14122640Contrasting the Practices of Virus Isolation and Characterization between the Early Period in History and Modern Times: The Case of Japanese Encephalitis VirusGoro Kuno0Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Formerly Division of Vector-Borne Infectious Diseases, Fort Collins, CO 80521, USAJapanese encephalitis is a serious disease transmitted by mosquitoes. With its recent spread beyond the traditional territory of endemicity in Asia, the magnitude of global threat has increased sharply. While much of the current research are largely focused on changing epidemiology, molecular genetics of virus, and vaccination, little attention has been paid to the early history of virus isolation and phenotypic characterization of this virus. In this review, using this piece of history as an example, I review the transition of the concept and practice of virus isolation and characterization from the early period of history to modern times. The spectacular development of molecular techniques in modern times has brought many changes in practices as well as enormous amount of new knowledge. However, many aspects of virus characterization, in particular, transmission mechanism and host relationship, remain unsolved. As molecular techniques are not perfect in all respects, beneficial accommodation of molecular and biologic data is critically important in many branches of research. Accordingly, I emphasize exercising caution in applying only these modern techniques, point out unrecognized communication problems, and stress that JE research history is a rich source of interesting works still valuable even today and waiting to be discovered.https://www.mdpi.com/1999-4915/14/12/2640Japanese encephalitisJapanese encephalitis virusNakayama strainconcept of new virus isolationtransmission mechanismmetagenomics |
| spellingShingle | Goro Kuno Contrasting the Practices of Virus Isolation and Characterization between the Early Period in History and Modern Times: The Case of Japanese Encephalitis Virus Viruses Japanese encephalitis Japanese encephalitis virus Nakayama strain concept of new virus isolation transmission mechanism metagenomics |
| title | Contrasting the Practices of Virus Isolation and Characterization between the Early Period in History and Modern Times: The Case of Japanese Encephalitis Virus |
| title_full | Contrasting the Practices of Virus Isolation and Characterization between the Early Period in History and Modern Times: The Case of Japanese Encephalitis Virus |
| title_fullStr | Contrasting the Practices of Virus Isolation and Characterization between the Early Period in History and Modern Times: The Case of Japanese Encephalitis Virus |
| title_full_unstemmed | Contrasting the Practices of Virus Isolation and Characterization between the Early Period in History and Modern Times: The Case of Japanese Encephalitis Virus |
| title_short | Contrasting the Practices of Virus Isolation and Characterization between the Early Period in History and Modern Times: The Case of Japanese Encephalitis Virus |
| title_sort | contrasting the practices of virus isolation and characterization between the early period in history and modern times the case of japanese encephalitis virus |
| topic | Japanese encephalitis Japanese encephalitis virus Nakayama strain concept of new virus isolation transmission mechanism metagenomics |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/1999-4915/14/12/2640 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT gorokuno contrastingthepracticesofvirusisolationandcharacterizationbetweentheearlyperiodinhistoryandmoderntimesthecaseofjapaneseencephalitisvirus |