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NEUROVIROLOGY New Society Unites Continents, Disciplines in Exploring VirusesScientists from across the Americas convened in Acapulco, Mexico in mid-November for the inaugural symposium of the Pan-American Society of Neurovirology, sponsored jointly by the Harvard AIDS Institute at HSPH and several Mexican institutions.
Left to right, Thomas Fox, David Knipe, and Roberto Trujillo are among the Harvard scientists who helped organize the first Pan-American Symposium on Neurovirology. Photo by Steve Gilbert The mission of the new international society is to bring together medical scientists from the U.S., Canada, and Latin America in the relatively new field of neurovirology to understand the impact of viral infections on the nervous system in the Americas. Symposium topics included the epidemiology and clinical features of viral infections in the nervous system, the neurotropism and neuropathogenesis of viruses, therapeutics and preventive measures, environmental factors affecting viral infections in the nervous system, and the intersection of virology with neuroscience, neurology, and psychiatry. Most speakers came from the U.S. and Mexico, with several from HSPH and HMS. Bridges of ResearchJ. Roberto Trujillo, HSPH investigator of neurovirology and cell biology, chaired the symposium and serves as president of the fledgling society. Trujillo aims to build bridges of several kinds: between virology and neurology, between laboratory and clinical scientists, and across the two American continents. He said his own training—first in medicine and clinical neurosciences at the Autonomous University of Mexico State and Baylor College of Medicine, respectively, and then in virology at HSPH and HMS—convinced him that the two fields have many common interests but not enough collaboration. Beginning with polio and continuing to HIV and newer emerging viral diseases, "It's almost easier to say which viruses don't infect the brain," he said. Yet while neurologists commonly train in immunology, oncology, and other areas, virology has not typically been one."Until recently, neurovirology had remained a very 'classical' discipline of injecting viruses into the nervous system to see whether the animal dies or not and what tissues are infected," said David Knipe, the Higgins professor of microbiology and molecular genetics at HMS. The new society is taking a novel approach by bringing neurologists from many geographical areas into close contact with virologists. An authority on herpesviruses, Knipe said his own experience shows the value of this broad representation. "I learned a lot from the neurologists about how viral infections of the nervous system are probably more prominent in Latin America than in the U.S.," he said. "The Pan-American Society for Neurovirology uniquely facilitates interactions of laboratory investigators and clinicians from the U.S. and our American neighbors to the south," added scientific committee chair Thomas Fox, associate professor of neuroscience in the Department of Neurology at HMS. HIV and AIDS are high on the agenda. AIDS dementia and neurologic disorders caused by opportunistic pathogens—such as progressive multifocal encephalopathy associated with the JC virus—have declined in the U.S. since the arrival of antiviral "cocktails," but are on the rise in poorer countries where these drugs are unaffordable. "In Mexico City it's becoming the way it was in the U.S. in 1983," Trujillo said. Another question ripe for study is the prevalence of different HIV strains and their different effects in the nervous system. Herpes simplex virus 1 infection is endemic in many areas, including the U.S., where the worst symptom for most people is cold sores. But for unknown reasons, Trujillo and Knipe said, herpes encephalitis is very common—and often deadly—in Mexico and other Latin American countries. "Unfortunately, people come to see the physician when it's too late and the infection is all over the brain," Trujillo said. This is an underresearched area where prevention might save lives, Knipe added. "There's not much impetus for an HSV-1 vaccine in the U.S.," he said, "but I think there is a rationale for something that protects against HSV-1 in Latin America." Another mystery is the rapid increase in multiple sclerosis incidence in Mexico. The causes of MS remain uncertain, but scientists have long speculated that either a specific virus—possibly human herpesvirus 6—or an abnormal immune reaction to infection may be responsible. A sudden jump in incidence may lend weight to a possible infectious etiology and presents an opportunity for epidemiologic research. Emerging pathogens like West Nile virus are also important Pan-American concerns because they may be spread on a North–South axis by migrating birds, Trujillo said. Additional sponsors of the meeting were the Mexican Academy of Neurology and the Medical School and Biological Sciences School at the Autonomous University of Nuevo León in Monterrey, site of the first advanced virus research lab in Mexico (see Focus, April 3, 1998). Support came from the U.S. National Institute of Neurologic Disorders and Stroke and other NIH units. The society's major symposium will be every two years. A one-day symposium is planned for March in Monterrey to mark the opening of the society's headquarters there. —Tom Reynolds |
