Filoviruses: closing the gap on a killer: Marburg and Ebola Viruses (Current Topics in Microbiology and Immunology series) edited by H-D. Klenk

Springer-Verlag, 1999. DM219.00/£84.00 hbk (vii + 225 pages)ISBN 3 540 64729 5Since their discovery in the 1960s and 1970s, Marburg and Ebola filoviruses have caused deadly outbreaks of hemorrhagic disease in Africa and Europe. Because of their extreme pathogenicity, these often lethal, negative-stranded RNA viruses cannot be studied safely outside of a biosafety level 4 facility. Nonetheless, significant progress has been made in understanding the natural history, structure, replicative properties, pathogenesis and immunogenicity of filovirus infections.These advances are clearly set out in Marburg and Ebola Viruses. As the Editor acknowledges in the Preface, the rationale for compiling this research was not based on any widespread immediate threat posed by Marburg and Ebola viruses (the current number of recorded human filovirus infections is <1000), but rather on the ‘dramatic course of the disease, the excess case-fatality rates, and the lack of immunoprophylactic and chemotherapeutic measures’.Readers will appreciate the excellent overview of filovirus properties afforded by the first chapter of the book. All of the information is current, and it clearly delineates the differences between Marburg and Ebola viruses, as well as those between filoviruses and other negative-stranded RNA viruses. The fourth and fifth chapters, which contain previously unpublished data, provide outstanding documentation of the original Marburg virus outbreak and recent Ebola virus outbreaks in Cote d’Ivoire and Liberia. The sporadic appearance of filovirus outbreaks and the difficulties that have been encountered in attempts to identify the viruses’ natural hosts are well covered. Clearly, without comprehensive epidemiological information of the type provided in this book, future efforts to predict and control filovirus outbreaks are doomed to fail.The paucity of experience in treating filovirus infections has hampered medical responses to localized outbreaks and has contributed to the high mortality figures associated with both Marburg and Ebola viruses. This deficit is addressed by chapters in which specialists in the field concentrate on the clinical and pathological aspects of Ebola virus outbreaks, using superb electron micrographs, as well as histochemical and immunohistochemical micrographs, to illustrate their narratives. Physicians will be especially interested in sections describing the tools now available for the diagnosis of filovirus infections.The remaining chapters focus on knowledge gained from studies of experimental filovirus infections in animals, including a review of molecular findings that suggest central pathogenic roles for the mononuclear phagocyte system and the endothelium. Although some of the information will undoubtedly be too detailed for the general scientific reader, comprehension is aided by a series of clear diagrams. The final chapter addresses the critical issue of filovirus virulence as an immune response phenomenon. The author’s incisive review of the extant data on this topic suggests that the unusually high mortality rates in outbreaks of filovirus infection might reflect an immunosuppressive effect by these pathogens.When multiple authors contribute to a book, the chapters inevitably display a certain unevenness in quality. Marburg and Ebola Viruses is no exception. Particularly bothersome is the duplication of coverage between chapters emphasizing the pathogenesis of filovirus infections. A minor complaint, but one reiterated by several members of my laboratory staff, is that the book seems peculiarly ‘old-fashioned’, both in terms of its cover design and its textual appearance. Perhaps it is time for Springer-Verlag to reassess the visual impact of its Current Topics in Microbiology and Immunology series, which has had a long and illustrious history. Overall, Marburg and Ebola Viruses provided me with an enjoyable weekend of reading, and I would have no reservations in recommending the book to any specialist with an interest in the filoviruses.