ABSTRACT
The classification of viruses, first limited to the efforts of an individual virologist, became a worldwide concerted enterprise in 1963 with the establishment of the International Committee on Nomenclature of Viruses (ICNV). The ICTV presently consists of 8 subcommittees, 45 study groups, and over 400 participating virologists. It has subcommittees for viruses of vertebrates, invertebrates, plants, bacteria, and eukaryotic protists. The ICTV is concerned with the construction of a coherent and universal system of virus classification and nomenclature. The ICTV collects data and proposals and issues periodically a report in principle after each International Congress of Virology. The report describes virus families and genera, but not species, and contains updates of existing taxa and descriptions of new groups. Taxonomic and nomenclature proposals are typically made in study groups, voted on by the respective subcommittees, scrutinized by the ICTV Executive Committee, and ratified by the full ICTV when it convenes every 3 years at an International Congress of Virology.
