It is now just 40 years since coxsackieviruses were first isolated by
Dalldorf and Sickles in the "eponymous" town of Coxsackie, New York. Yet
the overall contribution of coxsackieviruses to clinically evident dis-
ease of humans is still largely an open problem. Following their discov-
ery, coxsackieviruses were under intense clinical and laboratory
scrutiny for a long time. Because of their relationship to polioviruses,
the under- standing of their structure, biochemistry, biology, and
epidemiology ad- vanced rapidly as a result of the formidable efforts
that eventually led to the defeat of poliomyelitis. The ability of these
viruses to infect mice permitted dissection of their pathogenicity in an
experimental host and elucidation of conditions that influence its
expression. Coxsackieviruses have been progressively associated with an
increasing array of widely diverse human diseases. However, only some of
the suggested causal correlations have been substantiated with
satisfactory certainty. For others, conclusive evidence has so far
resisted investigation. Most impor- tant, among the latter are chronic
maladies, such as dilated car- diomyopathy and juvenile diabetes, that
demand consideration. In recent times, there has been a partial eclipse
of the subject of coxsackieviruses in the medical literature. In
addition to the difficulties encountered in pinpointing their pathogenic
potential, possible reasons include the general decline of interest in
enteroviruses, which ensued after the conquest of poliomyelitis, and the
continuous appearance in the limelight of new, more esoteric, and
therefore more "appealing" viruses.
