Neurovirology

Neurovirology is an interdisciplinary field which represents a melding of clinical neuroscience, virology, immunology, and molecular biology. The main focus of the field is to study viruses capable of infecting the nervous system. In addition to this, the field studies the use of viruses to trace neuroanatomical pathways, for gene therapy, and to eliminate detrimental populations of neural cells. Neurovirology is an interdisciplinary field which represents a melding of clinical neuroscience, virology, immunology, and molecular biology. The main focus of the field is to study viruses capable of infecting the nervous system. In addition to this, the field studies the use of viruses to trace neuroanatomical pathways, for gene therapy, and to eliminate detrimental populations of neural cells. The field of neurovirology was formed within the past 30 years. It was founded upon the discovery that a large number of viruses are capable of invading and establishing latent infections in nervous tissue. Such viruses have been shown to produce slow, chronic, or progressive nervous system diseases.:v Neurovirology incorporates the related fields of virology, neuroscience, neurology, immunology, and molecular biology. The main focus of the field is to study the molecular and biological basis of virus induced diseases of the nervous system. In addition to this, the field studies the use of these viruses as tracers of neuroanatomical pathways and as vectors for gene therapy. The field relies upon neuroimaging, isolation of the virus from brain tissue or CSF, serological testing of serum and CSF, and microscopic examination of tissue to diagnose nervous system infections. Neurovirology only became an official field within the past 30 years. However, the true origin of neurovirology can be accredited to the discovery that some viruses may have an affinity for nervous system tissue. This discovery was made in the late 1880s with research involving rabies.:1 In 1881, while studying rabies, Louis Pasteur demonstrated that the central nervous system played a crucial role in the progression of the disease. Following this discovery, in 1890, Schaffer demonstrated histological evidence that the rabies virus spread via neural networks. In 1929 Heinrich Pette established the first classification criteria for inflammatory diseases of the nervous system. This classification separated the diseases into two groups: gray matter acute and white matter acute inflammatory diseases. Gray matter acute inflammatory diseases were characterized by damage to neurons with myelin remaining intact. White matter acute inflammatory diseases were characterized by destruction of the myelin, with neurons remaining intact.:4 In 1938, Sbin and Olitsky discovered that the distribution of the virus within the body depended on its mechanism of entry.:6 In 1965, ZuRhein and Chou established that destruction of myelin could result from primary virus infection, not only from autoimmune response to the virus.:8 Most of the research of which the field of neurovirology is based upon occurred in the late 1980s and the 1900s.:10