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  Proposal on a consistent numbering system
for new enterovirus and rhinovirus types
   
  The designation of new enterovirus and rhinovirus types is currently the responsibility of the Picornaviridae Study Group and is administered on a day-to-day basis by the Chair of that group.

The genus Enterovirus is currently comprised of 10 species: Human enterovirus A, Human enterovirus B, Human enterovirus C, Human enterovirus D, Bovine enterovirus, Porcine enterovirus B, Simian enterovirus A, Human rhinovirus A, Human rhinovirus B and Human rhinovirus C. However, it has been proposed that the host species references should be removed from the species names and it is expected that these new names will be officially accepted by the end of 2012. Additionally, two new species have been proposed.

The 12 proposed species names are: "Enterovirus A", "Enterovirus B", "Enterovirus C", "Enterovirus D", "Enterovirus E", "Enterovirus F", "Enterovirus G", "Enterovirus H", "Enterovirus J", "Rhinovirus A", "Rhinovirus B" and "Rhinovirus C".

Enterovirus types

Currently, the types within Human enterovirus A to D and "J" are designated in an interleaved fashion and identified by prefixing the number with the species letter. Bovine enteroviruses, porcine enteroviruses and simian enterovirus A have their own independent numbering systems.

Rhinovirus types

Human rhinovirus A and B, like the human enteroviruses, have evolved an interleaved system which originated from the time before the species were defined. When the new species Human rhinovirus C was proposed because none of the viruses had previously been typed an independent numbering system was devised and currently runs from HRV-C1 to HRV-C51.

The proposal

To bring consistency to the naming of types within the genus Enterovirus, his proposal is to name all new entero- and rhinovirus types independently according to the species to which they belong. This would involve the minimum of changes to existing type names (in the bovine and porcine enteroviruses). Numbering would be continued from the last number currently designated in each species.

Species (current) Species
(proposed names)
Examples of new type numbers*
Human enterovirus A "Enterovirus A" EV-A120, EV-A121, EV-A122, etc.
Human enterovirus B "Enterovirus B" EV-B111, EV-B112, EV-B113, etc.
Human enterovirus C "Enterovirus C" EV-C119, EV-C120, EV-C121, etc.
Human enterovirus D "Enterovirus D" EV-D121, EV-D122, EV-D123, etc.
Bovine enterovirus "Enterovirus E" EV-E5, EV-E6, EV-E7, etc.
Bovine enterovirus "Enterovirus F" EV-F7, EV-F8, EV-F9, etc.
Porcine enterovirus B "Enterovirus G" EV-G7, EV-G8, EV-G9, etc.
Simian enterovirus A "Enterovirus H"§ EV-H2, EV-H3, EV-H4, etc.
unassigned "Enterovirus J" EV-J122, EV-J123, EV-J124, etc.
(or rename from 1 and new ones would be
E-J6, EV-J7, EV-J8, etc.)
Human rhinovirus A "Rhinovirus A" RV-A104, RV-A105, RV-A106, etc.
Human rhinovirus B "Rhinovirus B" RV-B100, RV-B101, RV-B102, etc.
Human rhinovirus C "Rhinovirus C" RV-C52, RV-C53, RV-C54, etc.
*, see the species links for the existing type designations.
, currently bovine enteroviruses belong to a single species and have been classified into 2 groups (hence the proposed division into two species) each with a number of types.
‡, currently porcine enteroviruses (which include a sheep enterovirus) are classified into six types, PEV-9, PEV-10, PEV-14, PEV-15, OEV-1 and PEV-16; these would be renamed, EV-G1 to G6.
§, simian enterovirus A1 (SEV-A1) would be renamed EV-H1.


Any new species will start its numbering from 1 (unless there are compelling reasons for keeping an existing type number).

It will be essential to include the species letter in the type name (e.g. HEV-B111) as there may be other types in different species with the same number (e.g. EV-D111).

Proposed by: Nick J. Knowles, Dieter Blaas, Thomas Briese, Alexander E. Gorbalenya, James E. Gern, Tapani Hovi, Andrew M.Q. King, Stephen Liggett, A. Michael Lindberg, Ian M. Mackay, Mark A. Pallansch, Ann C. Palmenberg, Gábor Reuter, Carita Savolainen-Kopra, Peter Simmonds, Tim Skern, Glyn Stanway, Caroline Tapparal, Jianwei Wang, Roland Zell (16 November 2012).


List A - This proposal is supported by:
{list of names to be added as people comment}

List B - This proposal is not supported or opposed by:
{list of names to be added as people comment}

Please e-mail nick.knowles@pirbright.ac.uk to comment and/or to add your name to List A or B.
   
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