Structure and presentation of a World Wide Web database of CSF virus isolates held at the EU reference laboratory

A computerized database was generated with the epidemiological data of more than 600 CSF virus strains and isolates kept in the EU Reference Laboratory for Classical Swine Fever in Hanover. In addition, as sequence data from defined regions of the genome are increasingly being used for genetic typing of new isolates and are thus being published, it was decided to integrate them into the database. In order to make the epidemiological and the sequence data available to other laboratories through the World Wide Web, a searchable web interface was programmed, which can be accessed using an Internet browser like Netscape or Internet Explorer. The possibility to exchange data via the web has the potential to increase our knowledge concerning genetic and epidemiological links between outbreaks worldwide.