AntiViral Drug Discovery for Emerging Diseases and BioTerrorism Threats

When I was just beginning my career at the National Institutes of Health as an organic chemist who wished to contribute to medicine in some way, I was advised to stay away from research on the discovery of antiviral agents since viruses were well under control. That was when the World Health Organization nearly had eliminated variola virus, the causative agent of smallpox and the worst killer in human history. Years earlier, Salk, Sabin, and Koprowski had given the world the means to eliminate polio. These were massive accomplishments and optimism was

only natural. Of course, the antiviral naysayers could not read the future