In recent years, papillomaviruses in general and human papilloΒ maviruses in particular have been recognized as possible agents of important diseases, including some forms of human cancer. The purpose of this book is to present a concise panorama of the preΒ sent status of knowledge of this topic. This knowledge is as imporΒ tant to molecular biologists and virologists as it is to clinicians and pathologists. To bridge the gap among these diverse groups of investigators, we conceived of a book covering a broad spectrum of the basic scientific, clinical, and pathological aspects of diseases associated with papillomaviruses. Although the principal thrust of this book is directed at human papillomaviruses, fundamental knowledge of animal viruses is essential to the current understandΒ ing of the molecular mechanisms of cell transformation. For this reason, a chapter on animal viruses has also been included. Some of the experimental work having to do with the elucidation of transformation and other aspects of interaction between the virus and the cell cannot be based on human papillomaviruses because of a lack of suitable experimental models. Hence, some of the chapters dealing with fundamental aspects of viral molecular biolΒ ogy are based on animal models. We were very fortunate in having persuaded a number of distinΒ guished colleagues to contribute to this work.