Table 1.
The Human Herpesviruses
| Subfamily | Human members |
Seroprevalence (adults) |
Associated diseases in the immunocompetent hosta |
Lytic cell targets |
Latent cell targets | Naturally evolved rodent virus models |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| α | HSV1 HSV2 VZV |
50–90% 15–95%b 90–100%c |
HSV1/2: Recurrent oral and genital ulcers; VZV: chicken pox, zoster (shingles) |
HSV1/2: mucosal epithelium. VZV: respiratory epithelium, T lymphocytes | Sensory neuronal ganglia | There are no known rodent α-herpesviruses. HSV1/2 can infect mice but do not recapitulate all aspects of human disease. |
| β | HCMV HHV6 HHV7 |
60–100% 90–100% 90–100% |
HCMV: Mononucleosis, congenital defects following transplacental infection. HHV6/7: infantile roseola | HCMV: mucosal epithelium HHV6/7: mucosal epithelium |
HCMV: myeloid lineage hematopoietic cells, smooth muscle cells, salivary and kidney epithelium HHV6/7: myeloid myeloid lineage hematopoietic cells, CD4+ T cells, salivary epithelium |
Rat and mouse CMV (MCMV) |
| γ | EBV, KSHV | 90–100% <5 to>50%d |
EBV: Mononucleosis, Burkitt’s and other lymphomas, nasopharyngeal carcinoma KSHV: Kaposi sarcoma, multicentric Castleman’s disease, peripheral effusion lymphoma |
EBV: oral epithelium KSHV: not known |
EBV: memory B cells KSHV: memory B cells, endothelial cells |
Murine gamma-herpesvirus 68 (MHV68, γHV68) |
a
Disease manifestations can vary quantitatively and qualitatively in the immune compromised individual
b
Frequency correlates strongly with number of sexual partners
c
Seroprevalence of VZV is estimated from studies occurring prior to the widespread adoption of live attenuated VZV vaccination
d
KSHV seroprevalence has a strong geographic bias