Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
whether their genome is DNA, RNA, single-stranded or double-stranded, the
sense of the single strand, and the presence or absence of a reverse transcrip-
tase. The following schema shows the classes and subclasses of pathogenic
viruses that will be described in Chapters 39 through 45.
Group I, double-stranded DNA (Chapter 39)
Group II, single-stranded DNA (Chapter 40)
Group III, double-stranded RNA (Chapter 41)
Group IV, positive sense single-stranded RNA (Chapter 42)
Group V, negative sense single-stranded RNA (Chapter 43)
Group VI, single-stranded RNA with a reverse transcriptase (Chapter 44)
Group VII, double-stranded DNA with a reverse transcriptase (Chapter 45)
Chapter 46 will describe the infectious protein agents known as prions.
Prions may be considered deformed proteins that have stumbled upon a
way to infect cells and cause other proteins, of the same kind, to deform
(i.e. non-synthetic replication).
It is worth repeating that when we use the Baltimore Classification (or
any alternate viral classification, for that matter) we must grudgingly accept
the fact that biologically relevant features of grouped viruses will cross taxo-
nomic boundaries. Consider the arboviruses. Arbovirus is a shortened name
for Arthropod borne virus. The arboviruses fall into several different groups
of viruses. The principal vectors of the arboviruses are mosquitoes and ticks.
Mosquito-borne arboviruses are members of Class Bunyaviridae (Group V),
Flaviviridae (Group IV), or Togaviridae (Group IV). Tick-borne arboviruses
are members of Class Bunyarviridae (Group V), Flaviviridae (Group IV), or
Reoviridae (Group III). Over 500 arboviruses, infecting a variety of animals,
have been described [76]. The lists of arboviruses, organized by vector,
shown below, follow no taxonomic principle.
Mosquito-borne viruses
Bunyaviridae (Group V, Chapter 43)
La Crosse encephalitis virus
California encephalitis virus
Rift Valley fever virus
Flaviviridae (Group IV, Chapter 42)
Japanese encephalitis virus
Australian encephalitis virus
St. Louis encephalitis virus
West Nile fever virus
Dengue fever virus
Yellow fever virus
Zika fever virus
Togaviridae (Group IV, Chapter 42)
Eastern equine encephalomyelitis virus
