An Ecological Framework of the Human Virome Provides Classification of Current Knowledge and Identifies Areas of Forthcoming Discovery

Parker, Michael T.

As will be discussed in later sections, not all viruses are pathogenic. Herein, I classify viruses that impact host physiology without directly eliciting a disease state as atypically pathogenic viruses. For example, some viruses infect humans without ever causing disease while others inhabit and change the composition of the human microbiome without ever infecting human cells. Since our immune system can't tell the difference between harmful or benign viral signatures, the mere presence of these viruses harbors potential to cause disease. So far, this type of interaction has not been defined as a facet of the virome, but in this section I will review examples from the scientific literature that hint at such scenarios.