Herpesviruses - a zoonotic threat?

B. Karsten Tischer , Nikolaus Osterrieder

Herpesviruses are highly host specific and share a long synchronous evolution with their hosts. Only in rare cases, species barriers fall and allow animal to human or human to animal transmission. Among the zoonotic herpesviruses, is the most significant and can be transmitted from macaques to human. Conversely, is capable of causing severe disease in primates. Besides those two examples, there are several herpesviruses with a certainly limited or only suspected ability to cross species barriers. Those include , , Equid herpesvirus 1, Epstein-Barr Virus, Marek's disease virus, and pseudorabies virus. Concerning xenotransplantations, porcine gammaherpesviruses must be considered as a zoonotic threat.

Mots clés: herpes B virus; herpes simplex virus; Marek's disease virus; phocine herpesvirus

B. Karsten Tischer, Nikolaus Osterrieder. Herpesviruses - a zoonotic threat?. Veterinary Microbiology, 2010, 140 (3-4), pp.266. ⟨10.1016/j.vetmic.2009.06.020⟩. ⟨hal-00556050⟩