Booth J C, Beesley J E, Stern H
Arch Virol. 1978;57(2):143-52. doi: 10.1007/BF01315675.
Large syncytia were regularly produced after prolonged infection in vitro of human embryonic fibroblasts by AD169 and other strains of human CMV. The syncytia showed typical CMV intranuclear inclusion bodies and herpesvirus particles in the nuclei and cytoplasm. It is proposed that syncytium formation follows abortive infection of the fibroblasts with defective virus.