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N Engl J Med 2021 Jun 5;384(23):2241. Epub 2021 Jun 5.

Royal Free Hospital, London, United Kingdom

Pathogens 2021 May 28;10(6). Epub 2021 May 28.

Faculty of Medical Sciences, University of the West Indies, Cave Hill, St. Michael BB11000, Barbados.

Background: Rodents are reservoirs for several zoonotic pathogens that can cause human infectious diseases, including orthohantaviruses, mammarenaviruses and orthopoxviruses. Evidence exists for these viruses circulating among rodents and causing human infections in the Americas, but much less evidence exists for their presence in wild rodents in the Caribbean.

Methods: Here, we conducted serological and molecular investigations of wild rodents in Barbados to determine the prevalence of orthohantavirus, mammarenavirus and orthopoxvirus infections, and the possible role of these rodent species as reservoirs of zoonotic pathogens. Read More

Antiviral Res 2021 Jul 13;191:105086. Epub 2021 May 13.

Poxvirus and Rabies Branch, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1600 Clifton Rd, Atlanta, GA, 30329, USA. Electronic address:

Decades after the eradication of smallpox and the discontinuation of routine smallpox vaccination, over half of the world's population is immunologically naïve to variola virus and other orthopoxviruses (OPXVs). Even in those previously vaccinated against smallpox, protective immunity wanes over time. As such, there is a concomitant increase in the incidence of human OPXV infections worldwide. Read More

Eur J Med Chem 2021 Oct 29;221:113485. Epub 2021 Apr 29.

Department of Organic Chemistry, Samara State Technical University, 244 Molodogvardeyskaya St., Samara, Samara Region, 443100, Russia.

Currently, smallpox, caused by the variola virus belonging to the poxvirus family, has been completely eradicated according to the WHO. However, other representatives of poxviruses, such as vaccinia virus, cowpox virus, ectromelia virus, monkeypox virus, mousepox virus and others, remain in the natural environment and can infect both animals and humans. The pathogens of animal diseases, belonging to the category with a high epidemic risk, have already caused several outbreaks among humans, and can, in an unfavorable combination of circumstances, cause not only an epidemic, but also a pandemic. Read More

Pathogens 2021 Mar 31;10(4). Epub 2021 Mar 31.

Laboratório de Vírus, Departamento de Microbiologia, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, MG 31270-901, Brazil.

Orthopoxvirus (OPV) infections have been present in human life for hundreds of years. It is known that Variola virus (VARV) killed over 300 million people in the past; however, it had an end thanks to the physician Edward Jenner (who developed the first vaccine in history) and also thanks to a massive vaccination program in the 20th century all over the world. Although the first vaccine was created using the Cowpox virus (CPXV), it turned out later that the Vaccinia virus was the one used during the vaccination program. Read More

N Engl J Med 2021 Mar 20;384(12):1081-1083. Epub 2021 Mar 20.

From the Division of Infectious Diseases at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, and the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania - both in Philadelphia.

Viruses 2020 12 30;13(1). Epub 2020 Dec 30.

Laboratório de Vírus, Departamento de Microbiologia, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais: Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais 31270-901, Brazil.

The global emergence of zoonotic viruses, including poxviruses, poses one of the greatest threats to human and animal health. Forty years after the eradication of smallpox, emerging zoonotic orthopoxviruses, such as monkeypox, cowpox, and vaccinia viruses continue to infect humans as well as wild and domestic animals. Currently, the geographical distribution of poxviruses in a broad range of hosts worldwide raises concerns regarding the possibility of outbreaks or viral dissemination to new geographical regions. Read More

Int J Infect Dis 2021 Mar 24;104:239-241. Epub 2020 Dec 24.

Department of Ophthalmology, Medical University of Warsaw, Ophthalmic University Hospital (SPKSO), Marszałkowska 24/26, 00-576 Warsaw, Poland.

Cowpox is a rare zoonosis transmitted to humans mainly from cats. The disease usually causes skin lesions; however, the ocular form may lead to other serious complications. We describe a case of cowpox in a rare location of the upper eyelid of an immunocompetent male, which lead to necrosis of the upper eyelid, keratitis and leucomatous opacity, and the neovascularization of the cornea. Read More

Viruses 2020 11 12;12(11). Epub 2020 Nov 12.

Highly Pathogenic Viruses, Centre for Biological Threats and Special Pathogens, Robert Koch Institute, Seestr. 10, 13353 Berlin, Germany.

Repurposing of approved drugs that target host functions also important for virus replication promises to overcome the shortage of antiviral therapeutics. Mostly, virus biology including initial screening of antivirals is studied in conventional monolayer cells. The biology of these cells differs considerably from infected tissues. Read More

Immunol Cell Biol 2021 02 23;99(2):177-191. Epub 2020 Nov 23.

Garvan Institute of Medical Research, Sydney, NSW, Australia.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a zoonosis like most of the great plagues sculpting human history, from smallpox to pandemic influenza and human immunodeficiency virus. When viruses jump into a new species the outcome of infection ranges from asymptomatic to lethal, historically ascribed to "genetic resistance to viral disease." People have exploited these differences for good and bad, for developing vaccines from cowpox and horsepox virus, controlling rabbit plagues with myxoma virus and introducing smallpox during colonization of America and Australia. Read More

Cells 2020 08 29;9(9). Epub 2020 Aug 29.

Department of Medical Microbiology, University Medical Center Utrecht, 3508 GA Utrecht, The Netherlands.

The ongoing threat of viral infections and the emergence of antiviral drug resistance warrants a ceaseless search for new antiviral compounds. Broadly-inhibiting compounds that act on elements shared by many viruses are promising antiviral candidates. Here, we identify a peptide derived from the cowpox virus protein CPXV012 as a broad-spectrum antiviral peptide. Read More

Viruses 2020 07 24;12(8). Epub 2020 Jul 24.

State Research Center of Virology and Biotechnology VECTOR, Rospotrebnadzor, Koltsovo 630559, Novosibirsk Region, Russia.

The mass smallpox vaccination campaign has played a crucial role in smallpox eradication. Various strains of the vaccinia virus (VACV) were used as a live smallpox vaccine in different countries, their origin being unknown in most cases. The VACV strains differ in terms of pathogenicity exhibited upon inoculation of laboratory animals and reactogenicity exhibited upon vaccination of humans. Read More

Br J Dermatol 2020 12 21;183(6):e190. Epub 2020 Jul 21.

Department of Dermatology, University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust, Southampton, UK.

Vaccine 2020 06 27;38(30):4773-4779. Epub 2020 May 27.

Instituto de Biofísica Carlos Chagas Filho, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

For the first 80-90 years after Jenner's discovery of vaccination in 1796, the main strategy used to disseminate and maintain the smallpox vaccine was arm-to-arm vaccination, also known as Jennerian or humanized vaccination. A major advance occurred after 1860 with the development of what was known as "animal vaccine", which referred to growing vaccine material from serial propagation in calves before use in humans. The use of "animal vaccine" had several advantages over arm-to-arm vaccination: it would not transmit syphilis or other human diseases, it ensured a supply of vaccine even in the absence of the spontaneous occurrence of cases of cowpox or horsepox, and it allowed the production of large amounts of vaccine. Read More

Vaccine 2020 03 11;38(12):2741-2745. Epub 2020 Feb 11.

Institute of Human Virology, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA. Electronic address:

The ancient technique of variolation (inoculation of the smallpox) which was introduced in the United States in 1721 was replaced by vaccination (inoculation of the cowpox) soon after the procedure was published by Edward Jenner in 1798. Benjamin Waterhouse is recognized as the introducer of smallpox vaccination in the United States having conducted the first vaccination in Boston on 8 July 1800, although other American physicians also played an important role in extending vaccination in the East Coast of the United States. A different route of introduction brought the smallpox vaccine from Mexico to New Mexico (March 1805) and Texas (April 1806) which at that time where part of the Viceroyalty of New Spain. Read More

Vector Borne Zoonotic Dis 2020 06 3;20(6):471-475. Epub 2020 Feb 3.

Institute of Novel and Emerging Infectious Diseases, Friedrich-Loeffler-Institut, Greifswald-Insel Riems, Germany.

Cowpox virus (CPXV), genus , family , is a zoonotic pathogen in Eurasian wild rodents. High seroprevalences have been reported previously for vole and murine species in Europe. In contrast, viral DNA was only rarely detected, and very few reservoir-derived CPXV isolates exist. Read More

Clin Infect Dis 2020 08;71(5):1324-1326

Pathology Queensland Central Laboratory, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.

An accurate rotavirus diagnosis is important for clinical management and monitoring active disease and vaccine effectiveness. Between 2016-2018, rotavirus-positive results in our laboratory were from vaccine virus shedding in 71/152 (46.7%) infants with a request for rotavirus testing. Read More

Vaccine 2020 02 12;38(6):1450-1456. Epub 2019 Dec 12.

Institute of Human Virology, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA. Electronic address:

The results from the first vaccination experiments published by Edward Jenner in 1798 were widely disseminated and consequently Jennerian vaccination was rapidly introduced in Europe and elsewhere. One of the reasons for the rapid spread of vaccination was that Jenner championed the procedure as a public health tool and not just as a mean to achieve individual protection. Vaccination was promoted by the highest levels of government in Germany where the vaccine was introduced in 1799 and also in France, where the vaccine arrived in 1800. Read More

Indian J Pediatr 2020 01 11;87(1):39-42. Epub 2019 Nov 11.

Infectious Diseases, Solid Organ Transplant Program at Sentara Norfolk General Hospital, Norfolk, VA, USA.

The first written record of intervention against what later came to be known as an infectious disease was in the early seventeenth century by a Buddhist nun. She dried 3 to 4 wk old scabs from patients with mild smallpox and asked well people to inhale the powder. More than a century later in 1796, Edward Jenner described vaccination against smallpox by using cowpox that later was found to be caused by cowpox virus which is non-pathogenic for humans. Read More

J Virol 2020 01 6;94(2). Epub 2020 Jan 6.

Institut für Virologie, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany

Cowpox virus (CPXV) is a zoonotic orthopoxvirus (OPV) that causes spillover infections from its animal hosts to humans. In 2009, several human CPXV cases occurred through transmission from pet rats. An isolate from a diseased rat, RatPox09, exhibited significantly increased virulence in Wistar rats and caused high mortality compared to that caused by the mildly virulent laboratory strain Brighton Red (BR). Read More

Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2019 10 1;116(42):21113-21119. Epub 2019 Oct 1.

Department of Pathology and Immunology, Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO 63110;

Costimulation is required for optimal T cell activation, yet it is unclear whether poxviruses dedicatedly subvert costimulation during infection. Here, we report that the secreted M2 protein encoded by cowpox virus (CPXV) specifically interacts with human and murine B7.1 (CD80) and B7. Read More

Clin Infect Dis 2019 06;69(1):179-181

Royal Free London National Health Service Foundation Trust.

Ann Dermatol Venereol 2019 May 9;146(5):387-398. Epub 2019 May 9.

Service de dermatologie, Hôpital Henri-Mondor, AP-HP, 51, avenue du Maréchal-de-Lattre-de-Tassigny, 94010 Créteil, France. Electronic address:

Poxvirus (PXV) infections are a common cause of cutaneous signs. In France, certain forms of poxvirus are frequent and benign (molluscum contagiosum), while others are rare but potentially serious (cowpox virus [CPXV]). Whereas only smallpox and molluscum contagiosum viruses have a human reservoir and are transmitted between humans, most poxvirus infections are zoonoses having only animal reservoirs. Read More

Hautarzt 2019 Sep;70(9):715-722

Klinik und Poliklinik für Dermatologie und Allergologie, Universitätsklinikum Bonn, Venusberg-Campus 1, 53127, Bonn, Deutschland.

This article reports the remarkable course of a facial ulcer in a patient receiving prednisolone for Crohn's disease. Based on the initially unclear origin of the ulcer the patient received a triple anti-infective treatment (antiviral, antibiotic, antimycotic) but the lesion showed a rapid progression. An orthopoxvirus infection could be verified later by extensive diagnostics and relevant differential diagnoses could be ruled out. Read More

J Virol 2019 07 14;93(13). Epub 2019 Jun 14.

Department of Medical Microbiology, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands

Vaccinia virus is a promising viral vaccine and gene delivery candidate and has historically been used as a model to study poxvirus-host cell interactions. We employed a genome-wide insertional mutagenesis approach in human haploid cells to identify host factors crucial for vaccinia virus infection. A library of mutagenized HAP1 cells was exposed to modified vaccinia virus Ankara (MVA). Read More

Am J Public Health 2019 05;109(5):695-697

J Virol 2019 06 29;93(12). Epub 2019 May 29.

Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Molecular Genetics, University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, San Antonio, Texas, USA

Orthopoxviruses (OPXVs) have a broad host range in mammalian cells, but Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells are nonpermissive for vaccinia virus (VACV). Here, we revealed a species-specific difference in host restriction factor SAMD9L as the cause for the restriction and identified orthopoxvirus CP77 as a unique inhibitor capable of antagonizing Chinese hamster SAMD9L (chSAMD9L). Two known VACV inhibitors of SAMD9 and SAMD9L (SAMD9&L), K1 and C7, can bind human and mouse SAMD9&L, but neither can bind chSAMD9L. Read More

PLoS Pathog 2019 03 18;15(3):e1007601. Epub 2019 Mar 18.

Department of Molecular Biology, Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology, Berlin, Germany.

Influenza viruses (IVs) tend to rapidly develop resistance to virus-directed vaccines and common antivirals targeting pathogen determinants, but novel host-directed approaches might preclude resistance development. To identify the most promising cellular targets for a host-directed approach against influenza, we performed a comparative small interfering RNA (siRNA) loss-of-function screen of IV replication in A549 cells. Analysis of four different IV strains including a highly pathogenic avian H5N1 strain, an influenza B virus (IBV) and two human influenza A viruses (IAVs) revealed 133 genes required by all four IV strains. Read More

PeerJ 2019 1;7:e6561. Epub 2019 Mar 1.

Bundeswehr Institute of Microbiology, Munich, Germany.

Background: Between 2008 and 2011 about 40 cases of human cowpox were reported from Germany and France. Infections had been acquired via close contact to infected, young pet rats. An identical and unique sequence of the hemagglutinin gene was found in various cowpox virus (CPXV) isolates pointing to a common source of infection. Read More

Emerg Infect Dis 2019 02;25(2):212-219

We report a case of atypical cowpox virus infection in France in 2016. The patient sought care for thoracic lesions after injury from the sharp end of a metallic guardrail previously stored in the ground. We isolated a cowpox virus from the lesions and sequenced its whole genome. Read More