Arborvirus: What's in a name? Although 'arbor' sounds as if it should have something to do with trees, it doesn't. It comes from the first 2 letters of arthropod + the first 3 letters of bor. Arborviruses are transmitted (borne) to humans by mosquitoes and ticks (arthropods).

However, the name 'Arborvirus' proved too clever by far. The spelling had to be replaced by Arbovirus, dropping the second 'r' because of the potential of mis-identification with trees. The first two letters of each word, arthropod' and borne, became the 'arbo' that now associates this category of viruses with arthropods.

For information about the Arboviruses, see Arboviral encephalitis.