Advances in Circoviruses

Dear Colleagues,

Circoviruses are a heterogeneous viral group infecting several animals hosts. Currently, research has largely focused on a limited number of avian and porcine circoviruses species, porcine circovirus 2 (PCV-2) in particular, because of their clinical and economic relevance. The improvements in diagnostic techniques and sequencing technologies have led to the discovery of a multitude of other viral species in different hosts. However, the knowledge of the distribution, epidemiology, infectious cycle, and potential pathogenesis of these newly discovered viruses is essentially lacking. Although the clinical relevance seems negligible in most cases, the multifactorial nature of these infections cannot be overemphasized: nowadays, devastating circovirus diseases mostly emerge when changes in farming conditions allow them to evolve from subclinical infections to posing a significant threat to animal health and productivity. Therefore, other circoviruses may represent a menace to companion animal and livestock welfare and/or wildlife conservation, thus requiring more extensive and dedicated studies.

Several aspects regarding infection dynamics, pathogenesis, and immunity also remain elusive for economically relevant and widely studied species like PCV-2 and the recently discovered PCV-3, demonstrating the complexity of these only apparently simple viruses.

For these reasons, this Special Issue welcomes any study providing a substantial advancement in circovirus knowledge, with a particular focus on, but not limited to, new species discovery, genomics, epidemiology and ecologic implications, biological cycle, virus–host interactions, pathogenesis, immunity, and disease control.

Prof. Michele Drigo
Dr. Giovanni Franzo
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the Special Issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-anonymized peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Pathogens is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.