Persistent hantavirus infections: characteristics and mechanisms

Abstract

Hantaviruses include serious human pathogens that are maintained in nature in persistently infected rodents and that can also persistently infect cultured mammalian cells, causing little or no cytopathology. The mechanisms of hantavirus persistence are only beginning to be explored. Recent data point to subtle changes in the viral genome that might result in the differential regulation of replication and lead to persistence.