Quasispecies Dynamics in Disease Prevention and Control

Medical interventions to prevent and treat viral disease constitute evolutionary forces that may modify the genetic composition of viral populations that replicate in an infected host, as well as those that expand at the epidemiological level. Strategies intended to minimize vaccination and treatment failures are proposed, and justified based on fundamental features of viral dynamics. The recommended use of complex, multiepitopic vaccines and combination therapies as early as possible after initiation of an infection falls under the general concept that complexity cannot be combated with simplicity. It follows also that socio-political action to interrupt virus replication and spread as soon as possible is as important as scientifically sound treatment designs to control viral disease on a global scale.