Abstract
Cowpox virus (CPXV) is described as the source of the first vaccine used to prevent the onset and spread of an infectious disease. It is one of the earliest described members of the genus Orthopoxvirus, which includes the viruses that cause smallpox and monkeypox in humans. Both the historic and current literature describe “cowpox” as a disease with a single etiologic agent. Genotypic data presented herein indicate that CPXV is not a single species, but a composite of several (up to 5) species that can infect cows, humans, and other animals. The practice of naming agents after the host in which the resultant disease manifests obfuscates the true taxonomic relationships of “cowpox” isolates. These data support the elevation of as many as four new species within the traditional “cowpox” group and suggest that both wild and modern vaccine strains of Vaccinia virus are most closely related to CPXV of continental Europe rather than the United Kingdom, the homeland of the vaccine.
Highlights
Cowpox virus (CPXV) is one of the earliest described members of the genus Orthopoxvirus (OPV)
Using the Taterapox virus (TATV)-variola virus (VARV) threshold (0.0154) as a guide, the CPXV isolates can be split into two major monophyletic clades (Cowpox-like and Vaccinia-like) and further into the five distinct monophyletic clusters
Previous researchers have recognized that substantial genotypic and phenotypic diversity exists among CPXV species, to date no one has objectively analyzed this diversity and put it into a taxonomic context relevant to the other members of the Genus Orthopoxvirus
Summary
Cowpox virus (CPXV) is one of the earliest described members of the genus Orthopoxvirus (OPV). Researchers referred to the ailment known as cowpox and even suggested that it could provide immunity against smallpox [1]. It was Jenner’s publications in 1798 and 1799 which provided the first scientific description of vaccination by detailing the efficacy of CPXV ‘‘scarification’’ in inducing protective immunity against challenge with variola virus (VARV) [2,3]. The common name ‘‘cowpox virus’’ refers to the association with pustular lesions on the teats of milking cows and historic zoonotic transmission of this disease to humans (milkers) through contact with infected cows. Long-term ecological studies on CPXV indicate that, the virus rarely has been isolated from them, wild rodents are the likely reservoir hosts of CPXV and infection rates vary seasonally [10,11,12]. Recent human cases have been primarily associated either with contact with pet rats or contact with infected cats (presumably infected by wild rodents), and not from contact with infected cattle
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