Herpesviridae has today published its first articles with BioMed Central, focusing on increasing overall knowledge of the role of herpes viruses in health and disease.

The ability to establish life-long latency after primary infection is a common denominator for these large species-specific DNA viruses, as is their ability to reactivate during life and cause morbidity and mortality. Herpes viruses are endemic worldwide and many of them are carried by 70-100% of the world’s population.

Recognition of the significance of herpes viruses as potential pathogens has increased during the past three decades due to the escalation in the number of patients undergoing immunosuppressive therapy following organ or bone marrow transplantation, as well as to the increasing incidence of AIDS as a result of HIV infection.

In their introductory editorial, Managing Editor Mensur Dzabic, and Editors-in-Chief Robert Hendricks, Christian Münz and Cecilia Söderberg-Nauclér, comment on the need for a journal focusing on these specific viruses and bringing together the different interdisciplinary niches of research on this important virus family.

“Our goal is to focus the efforts of many specialities into one journal by providing an Open Access platform to gather and advance our scientific efforts”, say the Editors.

The first articles published today include research from Professor Mary Delany et al on the genome level interactions between herpesviruses and their hosts, and how these could impact key aspects of herpesvirus pathobiology. Also published today, a review by Dr Regina Feederle et al retraces the development of the bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) technology applied to the Epstein-Barr virus, and discusses the controls required for proper use of this technology and technical hurdles encountered.