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Clinical Microbiology Reviews, January 2001, p. 165-176, Vol. 14, No. 1
0893-8512/01/$04.00+0   DOI: 10.1128/CMR.14.1.165-176.2001
Copyright © 2001, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

Historical Perspective of Foamy Virus Epidemiology and Infection

Christopher D. Meiering1,2 and Maxine L. Linial1,2,*

Division of Basic Sciences, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, Washington 98109,1 and Department of Microbiology, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 981952

Foamy viruses (FV) are complex retroviruses which are widespread in many species. Despite being discovered over 40 years ago, FV are among the least well characterized retroviruses. The replication of these viruses is different in many interesting respects from that of all other retroviruses. Infection of natural hosts by FV leads to a lifelong persistent infection, without any evidence of pathology. A large number of studies have looked at the prevalence of primate foamy viruses in the human population. Many of these studies have suggested that FV infections are prevalent in some human populations and are associated with specific diseases. More recent data, using more rigorous criteria for the presence of viruses, have not confirmed these studies. Thus, while FV are ubiquitous in all nonhuman primates, they are only acquired as rare zoonotic infections in humans. In this communication, we briefly discuss the current status of FV research and review the history of FV epidemiology, as well as the lack of pathogenicity in natural, experimental, and zoonotic infections.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Division of Basic Sciences, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, 1100 Fairview Ave. N., Seattle, WA 98109. Phone: (206) 667-4442. Fax: (206) 667-5939. E-mail: mlinial{at}fhcrc.org.

Clinical Microbiology Reviews, January 2001, p. 165-176, Vol. 14, No. 1
0893-8512/01/$04.00+0   DOI: 10.1128/CMR.14.1.165-176.2001
Copyright © 2001, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.


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Copyright © 2001 by the American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.