Over the past decade, the amount of data on viruses has grown dramatically. How can a virology student possibly make sense of all this information? In How Pathogenic Viruses Think, Second Edition, Dr. Sompayrac introduces an organizing principle a paradigm to use to cut through all the details and focus on what's important. He demonstrates the use of this paradigm by interviewing twelve medically important viruses. During these interviews, each virus is encouraged to disclose not only what it does, but why it does it. And when a talking virus reveals its secrets, they are hard to forget!

How Pathogenic Viruses Think covers the essential elements of virus-host interactions with descriptive graphics, helpful mnemonic tactics for retaining the information, and brief reviews of important concepts. It is an ideal book to help medical, science, and nursing students make sense of this complex subject.

Example:
Interviewer: I always ask the viruses I interview, How do you attack your hosts, and why have you chosen that route?

Flu Virus: I favor the respiratory route.

Interviewer: Okay, but why? For example, why not enter via the digestive tract?

Flu Virus: Are you kidding me? Do I look like a dumb virus to you? My Uncle Harold tried the digestive tract once, and got as far as the stomach before the acid in there ate him alive! Not me. I take the easy way in. The respiratory route of infection provides direct access to my favorite target cells the epithelial cells which line the human airway

Table of Contents
Part I Fathoming the Mind of a Virus
1 The Organizing Principle
2 Host Defenses
3 The Interferon Defense System
Part II The Bug Parade
Viruses We Inhale
4 Influenza: A Bait-and-Switch Virus
5 Rhinovirus: A Virus That Surrenders
6 Measles: A Trojan-Horse Virus
Viruses We Eat
7 Rotavirus: An Undercover Virus
8 Adenovirus: A Virus with a Time Limit
9 Hepatitis A: A Virus That Detours
Viruses We Get From Mom
10 Hepatitis B: A Decoy Virus
11 Hepatitis C Virus: An Escape Artist
12 HTLV-I: A Tribal Virus
Viruses We Get By Intimate Physical Contact
13 HIV-1: An Urban Virus
14 Herpes Simplex: A Virus That Hides
15 Human Papillomavirus: A Very Quiet Virus
Part III Beyond the Bug Parade
16 Emerging Viruses
17 Virus-Associated Cancer
18 Vaccines
19 Antiviral Drugs