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

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

The natural process by which viruses replicate may contribute to the culmination of the stealth phase. The viral polymerase of many of the viruses discussed here is error-prone. From an evolution or natural selection standpoint, this property has the advantage of promoting rapid mutations in the viral genome, avoiding recognition by the adaptive immune response. However, it is also possible that such a process promotes mistakes in viral replication, such as the generation of mutated, less efficient viral antagonists and defective interfering virus particles (DIs) that may lead to immune recognition. It has been shown in mice that stocks of SeV with high DI content enhance the immune response [112] and MeV vaccine strains induction of type I IFNs correlates with high DI content [113] .