Buying Time—The Immune System Determinants of the Incubation Period to Respiratory Viruses

Hermesh, Tamar; Moltedo, Bruno; López, Carolina B.; Moran, Thomas M.

The incubation period is a common feature of infection by pathogenic viruses. It is defined as the time between infection by a pathogen and the onset of symptoms. Determining the incubation periods of different pathogens assists health authorities control and track the progress of an infectious disease, thus limiting the spread of the pathogen and a possible epidemic. The length of the incubation period varies according to the infectious agent, the host immunological fitness, and previous immunological experience. In humans, it is difficult to determine the length of the incubation period since the exact time of infection is usually unknown. A thorough review of the literature by Lessler et al. [1] showed that the reported incubation periods for human respiratory viruses ranges from around two days for influenza and human rhinovirus (HRV) to 10 days or more for measles virus (MeV).