What Is Coxsackievirus?
1. Classification of the Coxsackievirus
The Coxsackievirus was named after the town of Coxsackie, New York, where it was discovered in 1948. At that time, viruses were simply named at the discretion of the discovering scientist. Today, animal viruses are classified by their physical structures and assigned to a family, genus, and species. The Coxsackievirus species belongs to the genus Enterovirus and the family Picornaviridae.
A species of virus can be further subdivided into serotypes, which vary in the number and types of proteins on their outer surfaces. These surface proteins are called antigens and are what determine the type of host cells the virus can infect. The Coxsackievirus has at least 30 different serotypes, and virologists have put them into groups A and B depending upon how they affect laboratory mice.
