Herpes Simplex Virus Type 1 Transcription during Latent Infections of Mouse and Man

Abstract

Latent herpesvirus infections are generally described to have three stages: establishment, maintenance, and reactivation. Since 1929 when Goodpasture postulated that latent herpesvirus infections are established in the nervous system, we have known the sites where latent infections are established but the events by which latent infections are established, maintained, and reactivated remain a mystery. To completely understand the latency phenomena of herpesviruses, we must understand not only the role of the virus during the latent infection, but also the contribution of the infected cell or tissue to this process.