From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Herpesviridae is the name of a family of DNA viruses that cause diseases in humans and animals.
There are eight types of viruses in this family known to cause disease in humans. These viruses are (HHV stands for human herpesviruses):
- HHV-1 = HSV-1 (herpes simplex virus 1): causes colds sores/genital herpes
- HHV-2 = HSV-2 (herpes simplex virus 2): causes colds sores/genital herpes
- HHV-3 = VZV (varicella-zoster virus): causes chickenpox and shingles
- HHV-4 = EBV (Epstein-Barr virus), lymphocryptovirus: causes mononucleosis
- HHV-5 = CMV (cytomegalovirus): causes mononucleosis, retinitis, etc.
- HHV-6 = roseolovirus: causes "sixth disease" (roseola infantum, exanthem subitum)
- HHV-7 = closely related to HHV-6; causes roughly the same symtoms
- HHV-8 = rhadinovirus = KSHV = Kaposi's Sarcoma herpesvirus
