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. 2010 Mar 4;56(6):727–735. doi: 10.1016/j.neuint.2010.02.016

Table 1.

Major neurotropic viruses causing human infections.

Virus Name Family Genus Genome
Human immunodeficiency virus Retroviridae Lentivirus ss (+) RNA-RT
Human T-lymphotropic virus-I Deltaretrovirus



Japanese encephalitis virus Flaviviridae Flavivirus ss (+) RNA
West Nile virus
Kunjin virus
St. Louis Encephalitis
Murray Valley encephalitis virus
Dengue virus
Yellow fever virus
Tick borne encephalitis
Sindbis virus Togaviridae Alphavirus
Polio virus Picornaviridae Enterovirus
Coxsackie virus
Echovirus



Rabies virus Rhabdoviridae Lyssavirus ss (-) RNA
Vesicular stomatitis virus Vesiculovirus



Herpes simplex virus Herpesviridae Simplexvirus ds DNA
Varicella zoster virus Varicellovirus
Cytomegalovirus Cytomegalovirus
Epstein-Barr virus Lymphocryptovirus

Neurotropic viruses that are commonly known to cause infections in humans are depicted in the table. These viruses have been shown to be associated with CNS inflammation and neurodegeneration in humans. Apart from the ones categorized in the table, there are some other neurotropic viruses that have been shown to infect other vertebrate animals. Similarly, these viruses may also infect non-human hosts.