Here, There, and Everywhere: The Wide Host Range and Geographic Distribution of Zoonotic Orthopoxviruses

Abstract

The global emergence of zoonotic viruses, including poxviruses, poses one of the greatest threats to human and animal health. Forty years after the eradication of smallpox, emerging zoonotic orthopoxviruses, such as monkeypox, cowpox, and vaccinia viruses continue to infect humans as well as wild and domestic animals. Currently, the geographical distribution of poxviruses in a broad range of hosts worldwide raises concerns regarding the possibility of outbreaks or viral dissemination to new geographical regions. Here, we review the global host ranges and current epidemiological understanding of zoonotic orthopoxviruses while focusing on orthopoxviruses with epidemic potential, including monkeypox, cowpox, and vaccinia viruses.

Seltene Zoonosen: Orthopoxviren

“…Manche dieser Viren zählen zu den Zoonoseerregern, können also vom Tier auf den Menschen übertragen werden mit z. T. schwerer Krankheitsfolge, vor allem bei immunsupprimierten Personen. Eine besondere Bedeutung als humanpathogene Erreger besitzen das Variolavirus, das Vacciniavirus, das Kuhpockenvirus und das Affenpockenvirus [2].…”

“…1). Insbesondere bei Tieren kommen bakterielle Sekundärinfektionen, die das Krankheitsbild verschlimmern, häufig vor [2]. Hautdefekte mit Pustel-oder Vesikelbildung treten auch bei anderen seu-chenmedizinisch bedeutenden Viruskrankheiten der Tiere auf und sind klinisch meist nicht eindeutig abgrenzbar.…”

Battle Royale: Innate Recognition of Poxviruses and Viral Immune Evasion

“…Members of the family Poxviridae can infect a diverse range of vertebrates and invertebrates, although some poxviruses have narrow host ranges and others have very broad host ranges [1]. Poxvirus infections have posed serious threats to both humans and animals worldwide [2]. Poxviridae is a large family of DNA viruses comprised of two subfamilies: Chordopoxvirinae and Entomopoxvirinae.…”

“…VARV is the causative agent of human smallpox, which was one of the most devastating human diseases in history [4]. Despite the success of global smallpox eradication through a vaccination campaign led by the World Health Organization, other pathogenic poxviruses, such as monkeypox virus, cowpox viruses (CPXV), camelpox virus, tanapox virus, and capripoxviruses remain threats to human and animal health [1,2,5,6]. The most intensively studied poxviruses, such as vaccinia virus (VACV) and myxoma virus (MYXV), have proven to be excellent research models to study host innate recognition and virus-host protein interactions and have provided important insights into the fields of virology and immunology [7,8].…”

Comparative Pathogenesis, Genomics and Phylogeography of Mousepox

“…Orthopoxviruses have played an important role in human history: variola virus (VARV), the causative agent of smallpox, was one of the most lethal human pathogens; vaccinia virus (VACV) and cowpox virus (CPXV) were key for the discovery of vaccination [1][2][3][4]. Today, 40 years after the eradication of smallpox, VARV still represents a threat as a bioterrorist weapon, and CPXV and monkeypox virus are the main cause of zoonotic poxvirus infections [5][6][7]. The orthopoxvirus ectromelia virus (ECTV) is the causative agent of mousepox, an acute exanthematous disease of mice that resembles smallpox and was used as a model for studying orthopoxvirus infections [8][9][10].…”