Varicella Zoster Virus

Varicella zoster virus (VZV) is one of the human herpesviruses. VZV causes two human diseases – varicella (chickenpox) and herpes zoster (shingles). Herpes zoster is a reactivation of a latent VZV infection. The VZV genome contains 70 open reading frames. Based on bioinformatics, VZV strains can be segregated into five clades. The replication cycle has three kinetic phases; during the late phase, the major VZV structural glycoproteins are inserted into the virion envelope. Autophagy is easily detectable in the infected monolayers. Finally, the article includes information about the live attenuated varicella and zoster vaccines.