JC virus


The JC virus or John Cunningham virus (JCV, not to be confused with Jamestown Canyon virus that bears the same initials) is a type of human polyomavirus (formerly known as papovavirus) and is genetically similar to BK virus and SV40. It was identified by electron microscopy in 1965 by ZuRhein and Chou, and by Silverman and Rubinstein, and later isolated in culture and named using the two initials of a patient, John Cunningham, with progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML). The virus causes PML and other diseases only in cases of immunodeficiency, as in AIDS or during treatment with drugs intended to induce a state of immunosuppression (e.g. organ transplant patients).