Orthoherpesviridae

Orthoherpesviridae, long known as Herpesviridae, is a large family of DNA viruses that cause infections and disease in animals, humans included, and its members are commonly called herpesviruses. The name comes from the Greek herpein, meaning to creep, a reference to the spreading skin lesions seen in cold sores, genital herpes and shingles. The International Committee on the Taxonomy of Viruses set up the genus Herpesvirus in 1971 with 23 viruses in four groups, and more than 130 herpesviruses are now known from mammals, birds, fish, reptiles, amphibians and molluscs. Nine types mainly infect people, including the herpes simplex viruses, varicella zoster virus, Epstein-Barr virus and human cytomegalovirus, and more than 90 percent of adults have met at least one of them. Herpesviruses can cause both latent and lytic infections, and the family is placed in the order Herpesvirales.