Herpesviruses

The best studied herpesviruses belong to the family Orthoherpesviridae, which the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses divides into three subfamilies. The Alphaherpesvirinae hold the genera Iltovirus, Mardivirus, Scutavirus, Simplexvirus and Varicellovirus, the Betaherpesvirinae hold Cytomegalovirus, Muromegalovirus, Proboscivirus, Quwivirus and Roseolovirus, and the Gammaherpesvirinae hold Bossavirus, Lymphocryptovirus, Macavirus, Manticavirus, Patagivirus, Percavirus and Rhadinovirus. Herpes simplex virus is a common infection that can cause painful blisters or ulcers and spreads primarily by skin-to-skin contact, and the World Health Organization estimates that 3.8 billion people under age 50 have type 1 infection and 520 million aged 15 to 49 have type 2.