International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses

Biichen-Osmond, Cornelia. ICTVdB The Universal Virus Database of the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses, http //www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/ICTVdb/index.htm. 2006. 

Van Etten JL (1995) Phycodnaviridae. In Murphy FA, Fauquet CM, Mayo MA, Jarvis AW, Ghabrial SA, Summers MD, Martelli GP, Bishop DHL (eds) The classification and nomenclature of viruses. Sixth Report of the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses Archives of Virology. Springer Verlag, Wien/ New York... 

Wickner, R. B., Eds. (2000). Virus Taxonomy Seventh Report of the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses. Academic Press, San Diego, CA. 

Viruses contain either RNA or DNA, and this nucleic acid composition forms the basis for their classification. Although viruses are known to infect bacteria, insects, plants, animals, and humans, this discussion is restricted to the important viruses of vertebrates. The relevant viruses are summarized in Table 2, using the nomenclature and taxonomy recommended by the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (4,5). 

As classified in the Third Report of the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses Classification and Nomenclature of Viruses, R. E. F. Matthews (Ed.), Intervirology 12 (129-296), 1979. 

The 21 fairulies of viruses listed here are primarily those that infect vertebrates. Thus, these families represent only a small part of the 71 families and more than 3000 viruses recognized in Virus Taxonomy Seventh Report of the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses, Van Regenmortel HV, Bishop DHL, Van Reenmortel MH, and Fauquet CM eds.. Academic Press, San Diego, CA 2000 (ISBN 0123702003). 

The Human Retrovirus Subcommittee of the International Committee on the Taxonomy of Viruses has proposed the name human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) for these viruses (489). 

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