Inapparent, Chronic, Inframicrobic Infections

Viral disease depends on the multiplication of the virus in the cell, while the lesions and symptoms produced represent the result of cellular injury and deterioration. The clinical manifestation of viruses is extremely varied it can range over a spectrum of forms, from confluent variola to the common cold. Man or animal, and even florae, can have virus infections without any external symptomology whatever, which is designated as inapparent infections. In some of these inapparent infections the virus in the tissues is in a torpid state until external causes, reducing the resistance of the organism, permit the virus to multiply vigorously, and to cause the appearance of some evident disturbances. An infection of this kind, designated as a subclinical inapparent infection, encompasses many possibilities, namely the virus can be present in the organism only for a limited period and disappears when immunity is established the inframicrobe can exist in the tissues for a long time simultaneously with the presence of immunologic response. The virus can persist in a certain cell for a protracted period without giving any indication of its existence in the interval before clinical manifestation. A series of better known virus diseases is presented which, apart from acute clinical form, can encompass a varied spectrum of latent states.