To the 55th аnniversary of the Department of Virus Ecology with the Scientific and Practical Center for the Ecology and Epidemiology of Influenza (D.I. Ivanovsky Institute of Virology of the N.F. Gamaleya National Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology of the Ministry of Health of Russian Federation)

Abstract

The article presents historical aspects and key achievements of the Department of Virus Ecology (DVE) with the Scientific and Practical Center for Influenza Ecology and Epidemiology, which was established in 1969 at the D.I. Ivanovsky Institute of Virology of Academy of Medical Sciences of the USSR. For over 50 years, the DVE has been devoted to addressing fundamental issues in virus ecology, including the formation of viral populations in nature, and conducting comprehensive large-scale studies in the interest of the state’s biosecurity. The department’s primary focus is on particularly dangerous (arboviral) and socially significant (influenza and other acute respiratory viral infections, parenteral hepatitis) viral infections. As a result of this extensive work in the Northern Eurasia region, over 2,000 strains of zoonotic viruses (17 genera, 8 families), ecologically linked to various arthropod vectors and vertebrate hosts, have been isolated. Many of them have been registered in international catalogs as new species. The role of these isolated viruses in human pathology has been studied, new viral infections have been described, and diagnostic preparations have been developed. The scientific results obtained by the department are of high priority and internationally recognized.