In the battle of sepsis everything counts. Adjunctive therapies of sepsis are greatly needed. Studies in animal models and clinical trials will be required to determine whether the anti-inflammatory effects of ketamine and/or other agents that block NMDA receptors could be beneficial in the treatment of severe staphylococcal infections. Avipoxviruses: infection biology and their use as vaccine vectors Avipoxviruses (APVs) belong to the Chordopoxvirinae subfamily of the Poxviridae family. APVs are distributed worldwide and cause disease in domestic, pet and wild birds of many species. APVs are transmitted by aerosols and biting insects, particularly mosquitoes and arthropods and are usually named after the bird species from which they were originally isolated. The virus species Fowlpox virus (FWPV) causes disease in poultry and associated mortality is usually low, but in flocks under stress (other diseases, high production) mortality can reach up to 50%. APVs are also major players in viral vaccine vector development for diseases in human and veterinary medicine. Abortive infection in mammalian cells (no production of progeny viruses) and their ability to accommodate multiple gene inserts are some of the characteristics that make APVs promising vaccine vectors. Although abortive infection in mammalian cells conceivably represents a major vaccine bio-safety advantage, molecular mechanisms restricting APVs to certain hosts are not yet fully understood. This review summarizes the current knowledge relating to APVs, including classification, morphogenesis, host-virus interactions, diagnostics and disease, and also highlights the use of APVs as recombinant vaccine vectors. Avipoxviruses (APVs) are among the largest and most complex viruses known. APVs belong to the Chordopoxvirinae subfamily of the Poxviridae family [1] . They infect and cause diseases in poultry, pet and wild birds of many species which result in economic losses to the poultry industry. Infections have also been reported in a number of endangered species or species in captivebreeding recovery programs [2] [3] [4] . APVs are transmitted via biting insects and aerosols and are usually named on the basis of the bird species from which the virus was first isolated and characterized [4] . The disease, which is characterized by proliferative lesions of the skin and diphtheric membranes of the respiratory tract, mouth and oesophagus has been described in avian species [4, 5] . Although APV infections have been reported to affect over 232 species in 23 orders of birds [6] , our knowledge of the molecular and biological characteristics of APV is largely restricted to fowlpox virus (FWPV) and canarypox virus (CNPV) for which fullgenome sequences are available [7, 8] . Currently, only ten avipoxvirus species are listed under the genus by the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV) [1] ; Table 1 . Thus, it is safe to assume that many APVs have yet to be characterized. Recombinant APVs have been evaluated for use as vaccine vector candidates against infectious diseases [7, 9] . APV-vectored vaccines are already in use in veterinary medicine [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] , and it is likely that such vaccines will also be used against human diseases in the future. This fact emphasizes the need to learn more about the molecular characteristics of APVs, which underpins the development of safe APV-vectored recombinant vaccines. This review summarizes current knowledge of APVs as avian pathogens, including classification, morphogenesis, hostvirus interactions, diagnosis, as well as issues relevant to their use as recombinant vaccine vectors.