coxsackievirus

A group of picornaviruses, included in the genus Enterovirus, of icosahedral shape, stable at acid pH, and about 28 nm in diameter, causing myositis, paralysis, and death in young mice, and responsible for a variety of diseases in man, although inapparent infections are common. They are divided antigenically into two groups, A and B, each of which includes a number of serological types, e.g., Enterovirus coxsackie A1 to 24 and Enterovirus coxsackie B1 to 6. Type A viruses cause human herpangina and hand-foot-and-mouth disease; type B viruses cause epidemic pleurodynia; both type viruses may cause aseptic meningitis, myocarditis and pericarditis, and acute onset juvenile diabetes. [Coxsackie, N.Y., where first isolated]

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cox·sack·ie·vi·rus (')käk-.sak-ē-'vī-rəs n any of numerous serotypes of three picornaviruses of the genus Enterovirus (species Human enterovirus A, Human enterovirus B, and Human enterovirus C) associated with human diseases (as meningitis or herpangina) see EPIDEMIC PLEURODYNIA

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cox·sack·ie·vi·rus (kok-sakґe-vi″rəs) [Coxsackie, New York, where it was first identified] any of a heterogeneous group of viruses of the genus Enterovirus that can cause a disease resembling poliomyelitis but without paralysis, as well as a disease with fever and rash. It is separable into two groups: A (23 serotypes, 1–22 and 24, with 23 being identical to echovirus 9), producing degenerative lesions of striated muscle, and B (6 serotypes), producing leptomeningitis in infant mice. A number of other serotypes have also been identified. Also written Coxsackie virus.