Introduction to the human γ-herpesviruses

Excerpt

This chapter will provide a brief background into the γ-herpesviruses family in comparison to other members of the herpesvirus family; but the primary focus of this chapter will be to recount the discovery of the two human γ-herpesviruses (EBV and KSHV) and the diseases associated with infection of each virus, a brief introduction into their life cycles, and finally a description of the genome characteristics of the viruses including a description of their respective genomes. In many ways, the discovery and association with human diseases for both EBV and KSHV have many parallels despite almost three decades separating their discoveries and association with human disease.