Cutaneous pox-like lesions are a common complication in the rehabilitation of pinnipeds. However, the exact identity, taxonomy, and host range of pinniped parapoxviruses remain unknown. During a poxvirus outbreak in May 2003 in California sea lions (Zalophus californianus) at a marine mammal rehabilitation facility, multiple raised, firm, 1-3-cm skin nodules from the head, neck, and thorax of o...

Increasingly complex bioinformatic analysis is necessitated by the plethora of sequence information currently available. A total of 21 poxvirus genomes have now been completely sequenced and annotated, and many more genomes will be available in the next few years. First, we describe the creation of a database of continuously corrected and updated genome sequences and an easy-to-use and extremel...

Abstract The avifauna endemic to islands is particularly susceptible population declines and extinctions resulting from the introduction of non-native pathogens. Three pathogens concern are avian malaria parasites, poxviruses, West Nile virus—each which can be transmitted by Culex quinquefasciatus , a highly adaptive invasive mosquito. has dramatically expanded its range in recent centuries now...

BACKGROUND Herpesvirus and poxvirus can infect a wide range of species: herpesvirus genetic material has been detected and amplified in five species of the superfamily Pinnipedia; poxvirus genetic material, in eight species of Pinnipedia. To date, however, genetic material of these viruses has not been detected in walrus (Odobenus rosmarus), another marine mammal of the Pinnipedia clade, even t...

We identify a secreted chemokine inhibitor encoded by orf virus (ORFV), the prototypic poxvirus of the Parapoxvirus genus, and show that it is related to the poxvirus type II CC-chemokine-binding proteins (CBP-II) produced by members of the Orthopoxvirus and Leporipoxvirus genera. The ORFV chemokine-binding protein (CBP) is functionally similar to the CBP-II proteins in its ability to bind and ...

With the aim to develop an efficient and cost-effective approach to control malaria, we have generated porcine parvovirus-like particles (PPV-VLPs) carrying the CD8(+) T cell epitope (SYVPSAEQI) of the circumsporozoite (CS) protein from Plasmodium yoelii fused to the PPV VP2 capsid protein (PPV-PYCS), and tested in prime/boost protocols with poxvirus vectors for efficacy in a rodent malaria mod...

Recombinant avian poxviruses [fowlpox and canarypox (ALVAC)], restricted for replication in nonavian cell substrates and expressing granulocyte/macrophage-colony stimulating factor (avipox-GM-CSF), were evaluated for their ability to enrich an immunization site with antigen-presenting cells (APCs) and, in turn, function as biological vaccine adjuvants. Avipox-GM-CSF administered as a single s.c...

The poxvirus vaccinia virus (VV) served as the model virus for which the first antivirals, the thiosemicarbazones, were identified. This dates back to 1950; and, although there is at present no single antiviral drug specifically licensed for the chemotherapy or -prophylaxis of poxvirus infections, numerous candidate compounds have been described over the past 50 years. These compounds include i...