An RNA virus is a virus that has RNA (ribonucleic acid) as its genetic material. This nucleic acid is usually single-stranded RNA (ssRNA), but may be double-stranded RNA (dsRNA). Notable human diseases caused by RNA viruses include SARS, influenza, hepatitis C, West Nile fever and polio.
The ICTV classifies RNA viruses as those that belong to Group III, Group IV or Group V of the Baltimore classification system of classifying viruses, and does not consider viruses with DNA intermediates in their life cycle as RNA viruses. Viruses with RNA as their genetic material but which include DNA intermediates in their replication cycle are called retroviruses, and comprise Group VI of the Baltimore classification. Notable human retroviruses include HIV-1 and HIV-2, the cause of the disease AIDS.
Another term for RNA viruses that explicitly excludes retroviruses is ribovirus.
Read more about RNA Virus: Replication, Classification, Group III - DsRNA Viruses, Group IV - Positive-sense SsRNA Viruses, Group V - Negative-sense SsRNA Viruses
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“If I knew for a certainty that a man was coming to my house with the conscious design of doing me good, I should run for my life ... for fear that I should get some of his good done to me,—some of its virus mingled with my blood.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)