The RNA Virus Database

Belshaw, Robert; de Oliveira, Tulio; Markowitz, Sidney; Rambaut, Andrew

Viruses are divided into two similar-sized groups depending on whether the virus particle contains DNA or RNA, and, as causes of human fatality, RNA viruses are by far the more important (1) . New viral diseases continue to appear as a result of several changes in human activity: travel, population growth, interaction with wild habitats etc. Well-known novel, or emergent, RNA diseases include severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) (2), human immunodeficiency virus 1 (HIV-1) (3), and may come to include Avian influenza H5N1 virus (4) . These emergent diseases are an important factor behind the increase in the number of genome sequences that NCBI treats as representing new species (Figure 1 ). In 2005, more than 200 new virus species were submitted to GenBank (more recent dates are less reliable because there is typically a delay between submission and public availability). As more emergent viruses appear, it is important to have a site that allows their genomes to be compared to those of known viruses. The origin of most major infectious diseases is unknown because of our ignorance of the diversity of pathogens in wild animals. This restricts our ability to both predict risks and develop treatments (5) .