Preface – emerging viruses: From early detection to intervention

In the last decades, several viruses emerged, as the consequence of cross-species passage from animal reservoirs to human being. Emerging infections always represent a significant challenge for public health system as knowledge about specific pathogens are generally little while and no/few effective interventions are available. In this volume we explored special aspects of emerging infectious diseases including: the application of the theory of focality of diseases to infective syndrome; the human-animal inter-face focusing on influenza; the role of bats as main reservoir of emerging and novel human pathogens; Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV) epidemiology and clinical presentation; immediate impact on human health of the last Zika virus outbreak occurred in Pacific Ocean and the Americas; the role and potential application of animal models for the study of emerging infections, to improve disease knowledge and for developing therapeutic drugs during ongoing outbreak.