The purpose of this meeting was to provide a forum for expert presentations and discussion about the threats of bioterrorism and
emerging infectious diseases, and to address the issues relating to epidemics, prevention of
infection and treatment of some of these
emerging infectious diseases classified as potential agents of bioterror. Included in the talks were state-of-the-art presentations about infectious clone technology and recombinant viruses, pathogen and receptor interactions at the cellular and molecular level, genomic responses to
infection, and new information on
antiviral mechanisms of action.
Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and progress toward understanding the epidemic was addressed, and other sessions were presented concerning immune
therapy and immunopotentiation of disease,
siRNA and gene silencing, host responses to pathogen
infections, as well as the use of genetic engineering to circumvent and direct the immune response. Many discussions were held and data were presented about possible compounds and new drugs that may have
antiviral properties, yet there were few discussions of any available new drugs. This report addresses reverse genetics of SARS virus, as well as its epidemiology, and a host of different recent approaches to developing
antivirals effective against SARS, including some potential
vaccine candidates. Also presented are hypotheses about the human immune response to SARS
infection, as well as immune
therapies against botulinum and
anthrax toxins. This report also addresses
antiviral approaches exploiting siRNAs, and different aspects of the host immune response to many of the different dangerous pathogens discussed at this meeting. Finally, approaches to circumventing and directing the immune response using genetic engineering will be reported.