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Cytomegalovirus Infection: Global Status is one in a series of GIDEON ebooks which summarize the status of individual infectious diseases, in every country of the world. Data are based on the GIDEON database (www.gideononline.com) which relies on standard text books, peer-review journals, Health Ministry reports and ProMED, supplemented by an ongoing exhaustive search of the medical literature. Chapters are arranged alphabetically, by country name. Each section is divided into five subsections. 1. Descriptive epidemiology 2. Summary of clinical features 3. Global status including distribution map 4. Status of the disease in a specific country 5. References

Although there are a number of excellent current reviews on one or another aspect of cytomegalovirus, the last comprehensive treatment of this subject was that of Krech et al. (197la). In view of the amazing advances in the virological, epidemiologic, and clinical knowledge of cytomegaloviruses, an up-to-date book is needed. Such a work should cover many areas of expertise and a voluminous technical literature. Each area might have been reviewed and analyzed by workers more expert than myself. However, I have embarked on the entire venture alone in order to attain unity and continuity in this book, characteristics that are not easily achieved in the more popular multiauthored works. I have tried to review the Iiterature and provide a critical summary for each area discussed. To do this, I provide as much of the primary data of the relevant works as needed and not just the qualitative conclusions. Inevitably, the flow of the narrative may be interrupted by dry facts and figures. However, such information is essential to make this a meaningful reference work. But for those not interested in such details, I have provided at what I hope are crucial points critiques and summaries. This book is not an exhaustive review of all the literature. This is probably no Ionger possible or even desirable. By selection, however, one runs the risk of having missed or ignored important papers. I am keenly aware of this, and I wish to apologize for such oversight, if that is possible.

Human Cytomegalovirus (CMV), a member of the herpesvirus family, is an under-rated health risk. Low public awareness results from the relatively mild symptoms it causes in otherwise healthy people whose immune system is intact, with primary infection thus usually going unnoticed. During pregnancy, however, transmission from the mother to the fetus is currently the most frequent viral cause of birth defects with life-long neurological sequelae, sensorineural hearing loss in particular. People at risk also include the growing number of immunocompromised patients requiring either a solid organ graft or receiving a hematopoietic cell graft for the treatment of hematopoietic malignancies that are refractory to standard therapies. Under the condition of weakened immune surveillance in these patients, latent CMV hidden in transplanted donor cells or in the recipients'own tissues can awake to cause a destructive infection resulting in graft loss and multiple end-organ disease, of which viral pneumonia is the most feared. This two-volume work, is an updated and upgraded 2nd-edition of'Cytomegaloviruses: Molecular Biology and Immunology'(2006). The title'Cytomegaloviruses: From Molecular Pathogenesis to Intervention'reflects its expanded commitment not only to cover cutting-edge basic science but also to include the translation of this to clinical science. In an interdisciplinary approach to understanding CMV disease and outlining options for prevention and treatment, leading international experts provide comprehensive and authoritative reviews on literally every aspect of current research with an unprecedented completeness, integrating research on human CMV and insights gained from experimental animal models. With contributions from over 100 authors, the topics covered in the 46 chapters range from the most contemporary systems biology'omics'views on virus-host interaction to considerations of the health and economic impact of CMV disease for evaluating the hoped-for benefit from a vaccine. Volume I focuses on basic science laying the foundations of clinical research, starting with the comparative genomics of primate CMVs and ending with the emerging field of humanized mouse models. Volume II is more clinically-oriented, covering the immune response to CMV, the most pressing medical problems in the newborn and in transplantation patients, as well as diagnostics, the management of antiviral drug resistance, the state and future of a CMV vaccine, and the potential of using CMV as a vaccine vector to fight unrelated diseases. The book closes with a critical survey of disputed associations between CMV and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, certain tumors such as Glioblastoma Multiforme, and the phenomenon of'immune senescence'in the elderly. The book is liberally illustrated with more than 200 figures, most of which are in full colour. There are over 60 tables and several thousand references which enhance the book even further making it an invaluable source of information. Essential reading for all virologists with an interest in cytomegaloviruses, for all clinicians in pediatric intensive-care medicine and at transplantation centers, for scientists working on antiviral drug and vaccine development, as well as for public health service and science funding system authorities.