In this article we will discuss about the consequences of viral infections in animal cells.
1. In lytic infection, the final result is the destruction of host animal cell and the release of progeny viruses.
2. In persistent infection, the release of virus particles, which takes place by a kind of budding process, may be slow and the host animal cell may not be destroyed. The infected animal cell may therefore remain alive and continue to produce virus particles indefinitely.
3. In latent infection, the virus exists inside the host but does not cause any harm to it until the virus enters into the lytic cycle. That is there is a delay between infection by the virus and the lytic cycle.
4. In transformation, certain animal viruses catalyse the conversion of a normal cell into a tumour cell (cancer cell). Many tumourigenic viruses belong to the Herpes-virus group.
All these four consequences of viral infection in animal cells are diagrammatically represent in Fig. 14.2.
