slow virus
A slow virus is a virus, or a viruslike agent, etiologically associated with a slow virus disease. A slow virus disease is a disease that, after an extended period of latency, follows a slow, progressive course spanning months to years, frequently involves the central nervous system, and in most cases progresses to death. Examples of slow virus diseases include HIV/AIDS, caused by the HIV virus,{{Cite web|url=https://www.cdc.gov/hiv/basics/whatishiv.html|title=About HIV/AIDS {{!}} HIV Basics {{!}} HIV/AIDS |date=2019-02-28| publisher = U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention |language=en-us|access-date=2019-03-05}} subacute sclerosing panencephalitis, the rare result of a measles virus infection,{{cite web | work = PubMed Health | publisher = National Center for Biotechnology Information, U.S. National Library of Medicine | url = https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0002392 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140225233200/http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0002392/ | archive-date = 25 February 2014 | title = Subacute Sclerosing Panencephalitis | access-date = 10 February 2012 }} and Paget's disease of bone (osteitis deformans), which may be associated with paramyxoviruses, especially the measles virus and the human respiratory syncytial virus.{{cite journal | vauthors = Roodman GD, Windle JJ | title = Paget disease of bone | journal = The Journal of Clinical Investigation | volume = 115 | issue = 2 | pages = 200–208 | date = February 2005 | pmid = 15690073 | pmc = 546434 | doi = 10.1172/JCI24281 }}
Characteristics
Every infectious agent is different, but in general, slow viruses:{{cite book | chapter = Slow Viruses & Prions. | veditors = Levinson W, Chin-Hong P, Joyce EA, Nussbaum J, Schwartz B | title = Medical Microbiology & Immunology: A Guide to Clinical Infectious Diseases | edition = 16th | publisher = McGraw Hill | date = 2020 | chapter-url = https://accessmedicine.mhmedical.com/content.aspx?bookid=2867§ionid=242761049 }}
:* Cause an asymptomatic primary infection
:* Have a long incubation period ranging from months to years
:* Follow a slow but relentless progressive course leading to death
:* Tend to have a genetic predisposition
:* Often re-emerge from latency if the host becomes immuno-compromised
Additionally, the immune system seems to plays a limited role, or no role, in protection from many of these slow viruses. This may be due to the slow replication rates some of these agents exhibit,{{cite journal | vauthors = Bocharov G, Ludewig B, Bertoletti A, Klenerman P, Junt T, Krebs P, Luzyanina T, Fraser C, Anderson RM | display-authors = 6 | title = Underwhelming the immune response: effect of slow virus growth on CD8+-T-lymphocyte responses | journal = Journal of Virology | volume = 78 | issue = 5 | pages = 2247–2254 | date = March 2004 | pmid = 14963121 | pmc = 369240 | doi = 10.1128/jvi.78.5.2247-2254.2004 }} preexisting immunosuppression (as in the cases of JC virus and BK virus),{{cite journal | vauthors = Pinto M, Dobson S | title = BK and JC virus: a review | journal = The Journal of Infection | volume = 68 | issue = Suppl 1 | pages = S2–S8 | date = January 2014 | pmid = 24119828 | doi = 10.1016/j.jinf.2013.09.009 }} or, in the case of prions, the identity of the agent involved.{{cite journal | vauthors = Bradford BM, Mabbott NA | title = Prion disease and the innate immune system | journal = Viruses | volume = 4 | issue = 12 | pages = 3389–3419 | date = December 2012 | pmid = 23342365 | pmc = 3528271 | doi = 10.3390/v4123389 | doi-access = free }}
Scope
Slow viruses cause a variety of diseases, including cancer.
:§JC virus & BK virus only cause disease in immunocompromised patients