title: Mimiviridae, Marseilleviridae, and virophages as emerging human pathogens causing healthcare-associated infections.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  During the last decade it became obvious that viruses belonging to Mimiviridae and Marseilleviridae families (order Megavirales), may be potential causative agents of pneumonia. Thus, we have performed a review of the association of Mimiviridae, Marseilleviridae, and virophages with pneumonia, particularly healthcare-associated pneumonia, and other infections of the respiratory tract.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  According to the analysis of the published articles, viruses belonging to Mimiviridae family can be potential agents of both community-acquired and healthcare-associated pneumonia. In particular, these viruses may be associated with poor outcome in patients of intensive care units. The exact mechanism of their pathogenicity, however, still remains unclear. The discrepancies between the results obtained by serological and genomic methods could be explained by the high polymorphism of nucleotide sequences of Mimiviridae family representatives. Further investigations on the Mimiviridae pathogenicity and on the determination of Mimiviridae-caused pneumonia risk groups are required. However, the pathogenicity of the viruses belonging to Marseilleviridae family and virophages is unclear up to now.
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, Kemerovo State Medical Academy, Kemerovo, Russian Federation ; Central Research Laboratory, Kemerovo State Medical Academy, Kemerovo, Russian Federation ; Research Institute for Complex Issues of Cardiovascular Diseases under the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences, Kemerovo, Russian Federation.
authors.forename: Anton G
authors.initials: AG
authors.lastname: Kutikhin
authors.affiliation: Department of Oncology, Cancer Research UK and Medical Research Council Oxford Institute for Radiation Oncology, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Arseniy E
authors.initials: AE
authors.lastname: Yuzhalin
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, Kemerovo State Medical Academy, Kemerovo, Russian Federation ; Research Institute for Complex Issues of Cardiovascular Diseases under the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences, Kemerovo, Russian Federation.
authors.forename: Elena B
authors.initials: EB
authors.lastname: Brusina
keywords: giant viruses; healthcare-associated infections; marseilleviridae; mimiviridae; mimivirus; pneumonia; virophages