Marburgvirus
Encyclopedia
The genus
Marburgvirus is the taxonomic
home of one species
whose members are two related viruses that form filamentous virions, Marburg virus (MARV)
and Ravn virus (RAVV)
. Both viruses cause severe disease
in human
s and nonhuman primates in the form of viral hemorrhagic fever
s and both are Select Agent
s, World Health Organization
Risk Group 4 Pathogens (requiring Biosafety Level 4-equivalent containment
), National Institutes of Health
/National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
Category A Priority Pathogens, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Category A Bioterrorism Agents
, and are listed as a Biological Agents for Export Control by the Australia Group
.
Marburgvirus is a virological taxon
(i.e. a man-made concept) included in the family Filoviridae
, order Mononegavirales
. The genus currently includes a single virus
species
, Marburg marburgvirus
. The members of the genus (i.e. the actual physical entities) are called marburgviruses. The name Marburgvirus is derived from the city of Marburg
in Hesse
, West Germany
(where Marburg virus
was first disovered) and the taxonomic
suffix
-virus (which denotes a virus genus).
(ICTV), the name Marburgvirus is always to be capitalized
, italicized
, never abbreviated, and to be preceded by the word "genus". The names of its members (marburgviruses) are to be written in lower case, are not italicized, and used without articles
.
is a member of the genus Marburgvirus if
Table legend: "*" denotes type species and "accepted" refers to taxa that have been accepted by the Executive Committee of the ICTV but that have yet to be ratified.
International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses
The International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses is a committee which authorizes and organizes the taxonomic classification of viruses. They have developed a universal taxonomic scheme for viruses and aim to describe all the viruses of living organisms. Members of the committee are considered to...
Marburgvirus is the taxonomic
International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses
The International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses is a committee which authorizes and organizes the taxonomic classification of viruses. They have developed a universal taxonomic scheme for viruses and aim to describe all the viruses of living organisms. Members of the committee are considered to...
home of one species
International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses
The International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses is a committee which authorizes and organizes the taxonomic classification of viruses. They have developed a universal taxonomic scheme for viruses and aim to describe all the viruses of living organisms. Members of the committee are considered to...
whose members are two related viruses that form filamentous virions, Marburg virus (MARV)
Marburg virus
Marburg virus disease is the name for the human disease caused by any of the two marburgviruses Marburg virus and Ravn virus...
and Ravn virus (RAVV)
Ravn virus
Ravn virus is a close relative of the much more commonly known Marburg virus . RAVV causes severe disease in humans and in nonhuman primates in the form of viral hemorrhagic fever...
. Both viruses cause severe disease
Disease
A disease is an abnormal condition affecting the body of an organism. It is often construed to be a medical condition associated with specific symptoms and signs. It may be caused by external factors, such as infectious disease, or it may be caused by internal dysfunctions, such as autoimmune...
in human
Human
Humans are the only living species in the Homo genus...
s and nonhuman primates in the form of viral hemorrhagic fever
Viral hemorrhagic fever
The viral hemorrhagic fevers are a diverse group of animal and human illnesses that are caused by four distinct families of RNA viruses: the families Arenaviridae, Filoviridae, Bunyaviridae, and Flaviviridae. All types of VHF are characterized by fever and bleeding disorders and all can progress...
s and both are Select Agent
Select agent
In United States law, Select Agents are pathogens or biological toxins which have been declared by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services or by the U.S. Department of Agriculture to have the "potential to pose a severe threat to public health and safety"...
s, World Health Organization
World Health Organization
The World Health Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations that acts as a coordinating authority on international public health. Established on 7 April 1948, with headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, the agency inherited the mandate and resources of its predecessor, the Health...
Risk Group 4 Pathogens (requiring Biosafety Level 4-equivalent containment
Biosafety
Biosafety: prevention of large-scale loss of biological integrity, focusing both on ecology and human health .Biosafety is related to several fields:*In ecology ,...
), National Institutes of Health
National Institutes of Health
The National Institutes of Health are an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services and are the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and health-related research. Its science and engineering counterpart is the National Science Foundation...
/National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases is one of the 27 institutes and centers that make up the National Institutes of Health , an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services...
Category A Priority Pathogens, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are a United States federal agency under the Department of Health and Human Services headquartered in Druid Hills, unincorporated DeKalb County, Georgia, in Greater Atlanta...
Category A Bioterrorism Agents
Bioterrorism
Bioterrorism is terrorism involving the intentional release or dissemination of biological agents. These agents are bacteria, viruses, or toxins, and may be in a naturally occurring or a human-modified form. For the use of this method in warfare, see biological warfare.-Definition:According to the...
, and are listed as a Biological Agents for Export Control by the Australia Group
Australia Group
The Australia Group is an informal group of countries established in 1985 to help member countries to identify those of their exports which need to be controlled so as not to contribute to the spread of chemical and biological weapons .The group, initially consisting of 15 members, held its first...
.
Use of term
The genusInternational Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses
The International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses is a committee which authorizes and organizes the taxonomic classification of viruses. They have developed a universal taxonomic scheme for viruses and aim to describe all the viruses of living organisms. Members of the committee are considered to...
Marburgvirus is a virological taxon
International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses
The International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses is a committee which authorizes and organizes the taxonomic classification of viruses. They have developed a universal taxonomic scheme for viruses and aim to describe all the viruses of living organisms. Members of the committee are considered to...
(i.e. a man-made concept) included in the family Filoviridae
Filoviridae
The family Filoviridae is the taxonomic home of several related viruses that form filamentous virions. Two members of the family that are commonly known are Ebola virus and Marburg virus. Both viruses, and some of their lesser known relatives, cause severe disease in humans and nonhuman primates in...
, order Mononegavirales
Mononegavirales
The order Mononegavirales is the taxonomic home of numerous related viruses. Members of the order that are commonly known are, for instance, Ebola virus, human respiratory syncytial virus, measles virus, mumps virus, Nipah virus, and rabies virus. All of these viruses cause significant disease in...
. The genus currently includes a single virus
Virus
A virus is a small infectious agent that can replicate only inside the living cells of organisms. Viruses infect all types of organisms, from animals and plants to bacteria and archaea...
species
International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses
The International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses is a committee which authorizes and organizes the taxonomic classification of viruses. They have developed a universal taxonomic scheme for viruses and aim to describe all the viruses of living organisms. Members of the committee are considered to...
, Marburg marburgvirus
Marburg marburgvirus
The species Marburg marburgvirus is the taxonomic home of two related viruses that form filamentous virions, Marburg virus and Ravn virus...
. The members of the genus (i.e. the actual physical entities) are called marburgviruses. The name Marburgvirus is derived from the city of Marburg
Marburg
Marburg is a city in the state of Hesse, Germany, on the River Lahn. It is the main town of the Marburg-Biedenkopf district and its population, as of March 2010, was 79,911.- Founding and early history :...
in Hesse
Hesse
Hesse or Hessia is both a cultural region of Germany and the name of an individual German state.* The cultural region of Hesse includes both the State of Hesse and the area known as Rhenish Hesse in the neighbouring Rhineland-Palatinate state...
, West Germany
West Germany
West Germany is the common English, but not official, name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG in the period between its creation in May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990....
(where Marburg virus
Marburg virus
Marburg virus disease is the name for the human disease caused by any of the two marburgviruses Marburg virus and Ravn virus...
was first disovered) and the taxonomic
Taxonomy
Taxonomy is the science of identifying and naming species, and arranging them into a classification. The field of taxonomy, sometimes referred to as "biological taxonomy", revolves around the description and use of taxonomic units, known as taxa...
suffix
Suffix
In linguistics, a suffix is an affix which is placed after the stem of a word. Common examples are case endings, which indicate the grammatical case of nouns or adjectives, and verb endings, which form the conjugation of verbs...
-virus (which denotes a virus genus).
Note
Marburgvirus is pronounced ˌmɑrbərg’vɑɪrəs (IPA) or mahr-berg-vahy-ruhs in English phonetic notation. According to the rules for taxon naming established by the International Committee on Taxonomy of VirusesInternational Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses
The International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses is a committee which authorizes and organizes the taxonomic classification of viruses. They have developed a universal taxonomic scheme for viruses and aim to describe all the viruses of living organisms. Members of the committee are considered to...
(ICTV), the name Marburgvirus is always to be capitalized
Capitalization
Capitalization is writing a word with its first letter as a majuscule and the remaining letters in minuscules . This of course only applies to those writing systems which have a case distinction...
, italicized
Italic type
In typography, italic type is a cursive typeface based on a stylized form of calligraphic handwriting. Owing to the influence from calligraphy, such typefaces often slant slightly to the right. Different glyph shapes from roman type are also usually used—another influence from calligraphy...
, never abbreviated, and to be preceded by the word "genus". The names of its members (marburgviruses) are to be written in lower case, are not italicized, and used without articles
Article (grammar)
An article is a word that combines with a noun to indicate the type of reference being made by the noun. Articles specify the grammatical definiteness of the noun, in some languages extending to volume or numerical scope. The articles in the English language are the and a/an, and some...
.
Previous designations
The genus was introduced in 1998 as "Marburg-like viruses". In 2002, the name was changed to Marburgvirus, and in 2010 the genus was emended.Genus inclusion criteria
A virus that fulfills the criteria for being a member of the family FiloviridaeFiloviridae
The family Filoviridae is the taxonomic home of several related viruses that form filamentous virions. Two members of the family that are commonly known are Ebola virus and Marburg virus. Both viruses, and some of their lesser known relatives, cause severe disease in humans and nonhuman primates in...
is a member of the genus Marburgvirus if
- its genome has one gene overlap
- its fourth gene (GP) encodes only one protein (GP1,2) and cotranscriptional editing is not necessary for its expression
- peak infectivity of its virions is association with particles ≈665 nm in length
- its genome differs from that of Marburg virusMarburg virusMarburg virus disease is the name for the human disease caused by any of the two marburgviruses Marburg virus and Ravn virus...
by <50% at the nucleotide level - its virions show almost no antigenic cross reactivity with ebolavirions
Genus organization
| Species name International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses The International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses is a committee which authorizes and organizes the taxonomic classification of viruses. They have developed a universal taxonomic scheme for viruses and aim to describe all the viruses of living organisms. Members of the committee are considered to... |
Virus name (Abbreviation) International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses The International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses is a committee which authorizes and organizes the taxonomic classification of viruses. They have developed a universal taxonomic scheme for viruses and aim to describe all the viruses of living organisms. Members of the committee are considered to... |
| Marburg marburgvirus Marburg marburgvirus The species Marburg marburgvirus is the taxonomic home of two related viruses that form filamentous virions, Marburg virus and Ravn virus... * (accepted) |
Marburg virus (MARV) Marburg virus Marburg virus disease is the name for the human disease caused by any of the two marburgviruses Marburg virus and Ravn virus... |
| Ravn virus (RAVV) Ravn virus Ravn virus is a close relative of the much more commonly known Marburg virus . RAVV causes severe disease in humans and in nonhuman primates in the form of viral hemorrhagic fever... |
|
Table legend: "*" denotes type species and "accepted" refers to taxa that have been accepted by the Executive Committee of the ICTV but that have yet to be ratified.