Antigenic Drift in Respiratory Viruses
A special issue of Viruses (ISSN 1999-4915). This special issue belongs to the section "Human Virology and Viral Diseases".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 December 2025 | Viewed by 29
Special Issue Editor
2. National Virus Reference Laboratory, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin, Ireland
Interests: respiratory viruses; pathogens; vaccines; viral evolution; risk assessment; virus characterization; zoonotic viruses
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Understanding the evolutionary patterns that increase the diversity of viral respiratory pathogens has become paramount. The recent COVID-19 pandemic experience highlighted how a virus can spread in the population and negatively affect all human activities in multiple countries with socioeconomic consequences lasting for years. Furthermore, the world faces increasing risks of major infectious outbreaks posed by other pathogens, such as influenza virus, adenovirus, respiratory syncytial virus, and even other members of the Coronaviridae family. In this context, technological and analytical approaches have made it possible to simulate in silico, and experimentally characterize in detail, the effects of viral diversity. Such characterizations extend also to predictions regarding diverse variants of viruses, better identification of evolutionary events such as host-switching and recombination/reassortment, and methods to surveil viral agents affecting public health. This Special Issue aims to compile scientific reports on these efforts to disseminate best practices aimed to aid in the development of accessible diagnostics and treatments, and the prevention of future infectious outbreaks. As proper shared knowledge is the key to preventing and ameliorating the consequences of the next pandemic, this is an invitation to join this endeavor by showcasing the results of your work and their potential applications.
Dr. Gabriel Gonzalez
Guest Editor
Manuscript Submission Information
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Keywords
- respiratory viruses
- virus diversity
- viral recombination
- reassortment
- zoonotic viruses
- wastewater pathogen surveillance
- viral sequencing
- virus evolutionary characterization
- animal viruses
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