Main Page | See live article | Alphabetical index Viruses can be classified in several ways. The most useful is probably by the type of nucleic acid the virus contains, but they can also be classified: by their geometry by whether they have envelopes by the identity of the host organism they can infect by mode of transmission by the type of disease they cause Classification by type of constituent nucleic acid (i.e. by genome type), with examples: Class I double stranded DNA. Papovavirus Papilloma (human warts, cervical cancer) Polyoma (tumors in certain animals) Adenovirus Respiratory diseases, some cause turmors in certain animals Herpesvirus Herpes simplex I (cold sores) Herpes simplex II (genital herpes) Varicella zoster (chicken pox, shingles) Epstein-Barr virus (mononucleosis, Burkitt's lymphoma) cytomegalovirus Poxvirus Smallpox Vaccinia Cowpox Class II single stranded DNA. Parvovirus (most depend on coinfection with adenoviruses for growth) Class III double stranded RNA. Reovirus (Diarrhea) Rotavirus Class IV positive single stranded RNA itself acting as mRNA. Coronavirus Picornavirus Poliovirus Rhinovirus (common cold) Enteric viruses Togavirus Rubella virus Yellow fever virus Encephalitis viruses hepatitis C virus Class V negative single stranded RNA used as a template for mRNA synthesis (Mononegavirales). Rhabdovirus Rabies vesicular stomatitis virus Paramyxovirus Measles Mumps human metapneumovirus henipaviruses Orthomyxovirus Influenza viruses Bunyaviruses Hantaviruses (Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, Korean Hemorrhagic Fever) Arenaviruses Class VI positive single stranded RNA with a DNA intermediate in replication. Retrovirus RNA tumor viruses (e.g., leukemia) human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) Class VII double stranded DNA with an RNA intermediate in replication. hepatitis B virus This article is from Wikipedia. All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.