New viruses ("emerging viruses") have in the past caused serious diseases and widespread epidemics in humans and breeding animals. They will continue to do so in the future. A new task for virus research is to find out the sources of such pathogens and the mechanisms that determine their transition from natural animal reservoirs to false hosts like humans. The workshop "Ecology and Species Barriers in Novel Viral Diseases" from 14-15 September 2010 at the University Hospital of Bonn was aimed at scientists whose research work addresses questions of pathogen ecology and host transition. The focus was on viruses from small mammalian reservoirs, as these are particularly important as a source of zoonotic viruses for various reasons.
Scientific direction
Prof. Dr. Christian Drosten (Bonn)
Prof. Dr. Friedemann Weber (Marburg)
Prof. Dr. Simone Sommer (Berlin)
Prof. Dr. Elisabeth Kalko (Ulm)