Virus Latency

Virus latency (or viral latency) is the ability of a pathogenic virus to lie dormant (latent) within a cell, denoted as the lysogenic part of the viral life cycle. A latent viral infection is a type of persistent viral infection which is distinguished from a chronic viral infection. A latent infection is a phase in certain viruses' life cycles in which after initial infection, virus production ceases. However, the virus genome is not fully eradicated. The result of this is that the virus can reactivate and begin producing large amounts of viral progeny without the host being infected by new outside virus, denoted as the lytic part of the viral life cycle, and stays within the host indefinitely.

Virus latency is not to be confused with clinical latency during the incubation period when a virus is not dormant.