New international network for virus research
[NEWS 11 March 2011] A new network of the world´s leading medical virologists in 26 countries, including Sweden, was formed on 9 March during a meeting in Washington DC, USA. The Global Virus Network (GVN) will act as a worldwide resource for the identification, investigation and control of viral diseases, which constitute a serious threat to mankind. Today, viral infections affect a significant geographic area. In our globalised world, they can be quickly spread to the whole of humanity. GVN will therefore play an important part in finding effective solutions.
GVN will work for greater international research collaboration within virology. The network will also inform and educate authorities and healthcare organisations in the event of serious virus outbreaks, and will increase the new recruitment of virologists, of which there is currently an acute shortage.
"Sweden has a strong tradition within medical virology, but in recent years fewer and fewer physicians have been recruited to carry out research within this field," says Anders Vahlne, Professor of Clinical Virology at Karolinska Institutet and GVN Site Director for Sweden. "Personally, I am extremely pleased that we now have a global organisation to search out new viruses, and to carry out further research into known viruses that may cause diseases such as multiple sclerosis and rheumatoid arthritis."
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