TY - JOUR AU - Trindade, Giliane S. AU - Emerson, Ginny L. AU - Carroll, Darin S. AU - G., Erna AU - Damon, Inger K. T1 - Brazilian Vaccinia Viruses and Their Origins T2 - Emerging Infectious Disease journal PY - 2007 VL - 13 IS - 7 SP - 965 SN - 1080-6059 AB - Although the World Health Organization (WHO) declared global smallpox eradicated in 1980, concerns over emergent poxvirus infections have increased. Most poxvirus infections are zoonotic; exploring their genetic diversity will illuminate the genetic and evolutionary aspects of poxvirus infections, ecology, and epidemiology. In recent decades, several strains of the orthopoxvirus vaccinia virus (VACV) have been isolated throughout Brazil, including many genetically distinct isolates within the same outbreak. To further investigate the diversity and origins of these viruses, we analyzed molecular data from 8 Brazilian VACV isolates and compared several genes involved in virus structure and pathogenicity. Genetic variation among isolates suggests that ancestral Brazilian VACVs existed before the beginning of the WHO smallpox eradication vaccination campaigns and that these viruses continue to circulate. KW - Vaccinia virus KW - genetic diversity KW - Brazil KW - perspective DO - 10.3201/eid1307.061404 UR - https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/13/7/06-1404_article ER - End of Reference