Updates and achievements in virology.

The 4th European Congress of Virology, hosted by the Italian Society for Virology, attracted approximately 1300 scientists from 46 countries worldwide. It also represented the first conference of the European Society for Virology, which was established in Campidoglio, Rome, Italy in 2009. The main goal of the meeting was to share research activities and results achieved in European virology units/institutes and to strengthen collaboration with colleagues from both western and developing countries. The worldwide representation of participants is a testament to the strength and attraction of European virology. The 5-day conference brought together the best of current virology; topics covered all three living domains (bacteria, archaea and eucarya), with special sessions on plant and veterinary virology as well as human virology, including two oral presentations on mimiviruses. The conference included five plenary sessions, 31 workshops, one hepatitis C virus roundtable, ten special workshops and three poster sessions, as well as 45 keynote lectures, 191 oral presentations and 845 abstracts. Furthermore, the Gesellschaft fur Virologie Loeffler-Frosch medal award was given to Peter Vogt for his long-standing career and achievements; the Gardner Lecture of the European Society for Clinical Virology was presented by Yoshihiro Kawaoka, and the Pioneer in Virology Lecture of the Italian Society for Virology was presented by Ulrich Koszinowski.