Orphan virus

An orphan virus is a virus that is not associated with a disease but may possess pathogenicity.¹

Gilbert Dalldorf, a pathologist who showed that Coxsackie viruses paralyze mice but not humans, indicated that the term ‘orphan’ was created "in a moment of conviviality" by a group of virologists.²

Many enteroviruses are referred to as ECHO, enteric cytopathic human orphan viruses, because they were originally not associated with any disease.¹

References

Li L, Delwart E. From orphan virus to pathogen: the path to the clinical lab. Current Opin Virol. 2011 Oct;1(4):282-8. doi: 10.1016/j.coviro.2011.07.006.
Mortimer, Philip P. "Orphan Viruses, Orphan Diseases: Still the Raw Material for Virus Discovery." Reviews in Medical Virology 23.6 (2013): 337-39. Web.

[li-1] Li L, Delwart E. From orphan virus to pathogen: the path to the clinical lab. Current Opin Virol. 2011 Oct;1(4):282-8. doi: 10.1016/j.coviro.2011.07.006.

[2] Mortimer, Philip P. "Orphan Viruses, Orphan Diseases: Still the Raw Material for Virus Discovery." Reviews in Medical Virology 23.6 (2013): 337-39. Web.

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See also

References