Abstract
The family Poxviridae includes several viruses of veterinary and medical importance. Poxvirus diseases occur in most animal species and they are of considerable economic importance in some regions of the world. Diseases such as sheeppox are now eradicated in the developed countries but are still a cause of major losses in some developing countries. The history of the poxviruses has been dominated by smallpox. This disease, once a cosmopolitan and greatly feared infectious disease of humans, has now been eradicated by the use of a simple live-virus vaccine that traces its ancestry to the cow sheds of Gloucestershire in England. With the eradication of smallpox, the use of smallpox vaccine was discontinued throughout the world but may soon be resurrected in a new guise. Vaccinia virus is the subject of intense scientific study at present as a vector for recombinant DNA vaccines, for both veterinary and medical use. The family Poxviridae is subdivided into two subfamilies: Chordopoxvirinae (poxviruses of vertebrates) and Entomopoxvirinae (poxviruses of insects). The subfamily Chordopoxvirinae is subdivided into six named genera and several other chordopoxviruses that have not yet been classified. Each of the six genera includes species that cause diseases in domestic animals.
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