Provisional Labels for Herpesviruses *

The labelling of herpesviruses isolated to date has been at best haphazard. The extent of variation in the current naming of herpesviruses is exemplified by human herpesviruses which are named after the host (Herpesvirus hominis), after the disease or the histological effect with which they are associated (varicella-zoster virus, cytomegalovirus) or after the names of the discoverers (Epstein-Barr virus). Unless a standardized and uniform scheme is established, the confusion will be accentuated by the large number of new herpesviruses now being isolated and described. In 1971 a Herpesvirus Study Group was appointed by the International Committee for the Nomenclature of Viruses to make recommendations concerning the nomenclature and classification of these viruses. The present and interim conclusion of the study group is that insufficient information is yet available concerning the phylogenetic relationships of the herpesviruses to one another to permit the development of a Latinized binomial nomenclature related to an hierarchical system of classification.