Shope papilloma virus
![Engraving from Tableau Encyclopedique et Methodique, 1789.](/Images/godic/202501/07/Lepus_cornutus2121.jpg")
![Richard Edwin Shope, discovered Shope papillomavirus](/Images/godic/202501/07/Richard_Edwin_Shope2121.jpg")
![Rabbit with Shope papillomavirus infection.](/Images/godic/202501/07/Rabbit_shopes_papilloma_virus_32121.jpg")
The cottontail rabbit papilloma virus (CRPV), or Shope papilloma virus (also known as Kappapapillomavirus 2, Cottontail rabbit papillomavirus, and Rabbit (Shope) papilloma virus), is a type I virus under the Baltimore scheme, possessing a nonsegmented dsDNA genome. In the 1930s, hunters in northwestern Iowa reported that the rabbits they shot had several horn protrusions on many parts of their bodies including their faces and necks (Shope et. al 1933). This lead to the investigation and discovery of the virus in 1933 by Richard E. Shope when he was experimenting with cancer research (Klein et. al 1981). Shope separated the virus from horny warts on cottontail rabbits, and made one of the first mammaliam tumor virus discoveries (Klein et. al 1981).