Herpèsvirus de primates

Abstract

Primate herpesviruses belong to the family of Herpesviridae within the Herpesvirales order, and count three subfamilies : alpha, beta, and gamma. To date, eight herpesviruses have been identified in humans, and all, except for human herpesvirus 7, have at least one simian counterpart. Though often very fragmentary, the description in recent years of numerous viruses from various Old and New World nonhuman primates has lead to hypotheses of co-evolution between the viruses and their hosts. These studies demonstrate that most, if not all nonhuman primates can be infected with one or several herpesviruses. Further studies of other viruses showed that they share numerous properties with their counterparts in the same genus : a collinear genetic organization, an almost identical gene repertoire, a similar expression profile, as well as the same modes of transmission, and a close pathogenicity. There are most certainly other herpesviruses of nonhuman primates still to be identified, and further studies should also be performed on those that are currently only partially characterized.