The

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...

''Marburgvirus'' is the taxonomic home of ''Marburg marburgvirus'', whose members are the two known marburgviruses, Marburg virus (MARV) and Ravn virus (RAVV). Both viruses cause

Marburg virus disease Marburg virus disease (MVD; formerly Marburg hemorrhagic fever) is a viral hemorrhagic fever in humans and primates caused by either of the two Marburgviruses: Marburg virus (MARV) and Ravn virus (RAVV). Its clinical symptoms are very similar t ...

human Humans (''Homo sapiens'') are the most abundant and widespread species of primate, characterized by bipedalism and exceptional cognitive skills due to a large and complex brain. This has enabled the development of advanced tools, cultu ...

s and nonhuman

primate Primates are a diverse order of mammals. They are divided into the strepsirrhines, which include the lemurs, galagos, and lorisids, and the haplorhines, which include the tarsiers and the simians ( monkeys and apes, the latter including ...

s, a form of

viral hemorrhagic fever Viral hemorrhagic fevers (VHFs) are a diverse group of animal and human illnesses in which fever and hemorrhage are caused by a viral infection. VHFs may be caused by five distinct families of RNA viruses: the families '' Filoviridae'', ''Flav ...

. Both are

Select agent Under United States law, Biological select agents or toxins (BSATs) — or simply select agents for short — are bio-agents which (since 1997) have been declared by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) or by the U.S. Departme ...

World Health Organization The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for international public health. The WHO Constitution states its main objective as "the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of ...

Risk Group 4 Pathogens (requiring Biosafety Level 4-equivalent containment),

National Institutes of Health The National Institutes of Health, commonly referred to as NIH (with each letter pronounced individually), is the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and public health research. It was founded in the late ...

National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID, ) is one of the 27 institutes and centers that make up the National Institutes of Health (NIH), an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). NIAID's ...

Category A Priority Pathogens,

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is the national public health agency of the United States. It is a United States federal agency, under the Department of Health and Human Services, and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgi ...

Category A Bioterrorism Agents, and are listed as Biological Agents for Export Control by the

Australia Group The Australia Group is a multilateral export control regime (MECR) and an informal group of countries (now joined by the European Commission) established in 1985 (after the use of chemical weapons by Iraq in 1984) to help member countries to i ...

Use of term

The

''Marburgvirus'' is a virological taxon included in the family ''

Filoviridae ''Filoviridae'' () is a family of single-stranded negative-sense RNA viruses in the order ''Mononegavirales''. Two members of the family that are commonly known are Ebola virus and Marburg virus. Both viruses, and some of their lesser known re ...

'', order ''

Mononegavirales ''Mononegavirales'' is an order of negative-strand RNA viruses which have nonsegmented genomes. Some common members of the order are Ebola virus, human respiratory syncytial virus, measles virus, mumps virus, Nipah virus, and rabies virus. A ...

''. The genus currently includes a single

virus A virus is a submicroscopic infectious agent that replicates only inside the living cells of an organism. Viruses infect all life forms, from animals and plants to microorganisms, including bacteria and archaea. Since Dmitri Ivanovsk ...

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

, '' Marburg marburgvirus''. The members of the genus (i.e. the actual physical entities) are called marburgviruses. The name ''Marburgvirus'' is derived from the city of

Marburg Marburg ( or ) is a university town in the German federal state (''Bundesland'') of Hesse, capital of the Marburg-Biedenkopf district (''Landkreis''). The town area spreads along the valley of the river Lahn and has a population of approxima ...

Hesse Hesse (, , ) or Hessia (, ; german: Hessen ), officially the State of Hessen (german: links=no, Land Hessen), is a state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt. Two other major historic cities are Dar ...

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

(where Marburg virus was first discovered), and the taxonomic suffix ''-virus'' (which denotes a virus genus). Even though the virus was named after the city of

, Dr. Ana Gligic, lead virologist at a laboratory in Belgrade, was first who managed to isolate the virus.NOTE: ''Marburgvirus'' is pronounced , and ''Marburg marburgvirus'' is pronounced . According to the rules for taxon naming established by the

International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses The International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV) authorizes and organizes the taxonomic classification of and the nomenclatures for viruses. The ICTV has developed a universal taxonomic scheme for viruses, and thus has the means to ap ...

(ICTV), the name ''Marburg marburgvirus'' is always to be capitalized,

italicized In typography, italic type is a cursive font based on a stylised form of calligraphic handwriting. Owing to the influence from calligraphy, italics normally slant slightly to the right. Italics are a way to emphasise key points in a printed tex ...

, never abbreviated, and to be preceded by the word "species". The names of its members (Marburg marburgviruses) are to be capitalized, are not italicized, and used without articles; according to Kuhn.

Previous designations

Until 1998, the family ''

'' contained only one genus, ''Filovirus''. Once it became clear that marburgviruses and ebolaviruses are fundamentally different, this genus was abolished and a genus "Marburg-like viruses" was established for marburgviruses. In 2002, the genus name was changed to ''Marburgvirus'', and in 2010 and 2011 the genus was emended.

Genus inclusion criteria

A virus that fulfills the criteria for being a member of the family ''

'' is a member of the genus ''Marburgvirus'' if * its genome has one gene overlap * its fourth gene (''GP'') encodes only one protein (GP_1,2) and cotranscriptional editing is not necessary for its expression * peak infectivity of its virions is association with particles ≈665 nm in length * its genome differs from that of Marburg virus by <50% at the nucleotide level * its virions show almost no antigenic cross reactivity with ebolavirions

Genus organization

Marburg marburgvirus

The species was introduced in 1998 as ''Marburg virus''. Because of easy confusion with its virus member Marburg virus, the species name was changed to ''Lake Viktoria marburgvirus'' in 2005. In 2010, it was proposed to change the name to ''Marburg marburgvirus'', and this proposal was accepted in early 2012 by the ICTV. ''Marburg marburgvirus'' (also referred to as ''Lake Victoria marburgvirus'') is a virological taxon (i.e. a man-made concept) included in the genus ''Marburgvirus'', family ''

'', order ''

''. The species has two

members, Marburg virus (MARV) and Ravn virus (RAVV). The members of the species (i.e. the actual physical entities) are called Marburg marburgviruses. The name ''Marburg marburgvirus'' is derived from the city of

(where Marburg virus was first discovered) and the taxonomic suffix ''marburgvirus'' (which denotes a marburgvirus species).

Species inclusion criteria

A virus that fulfills the criteria for being a member of the genus ''Marburgvirus'' is a member of the species ''Marburg marburgvirus'' if it has the properties of marburgviruses (because there is currently only marburgvirus species) and if its genome differs from that of Marburg virus (variant Musoke) by <30% at the nucleotide level.

References

External links

ICTV Report: ''Filoviridae''

International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV)
{{Taxonbar, from1=Q15728844, from2=Q6755280 Primate diseases Animal viral diseases Arthropod-borne viral fevers and viral haemorrhagic fevers Biological weapons Hemorrhagic fevers Marburgviruses Tropical diseases Zoonoses Chiroptera-borne diseases Filoviridae Virus genera