[Persistent virus infections and their sequelae].

Besides acute virus diseases, persistent virus infections have attracted increasing attention during the last few years. In the case of such infections, the infecting virus may remain in the host organism for months or even years, before symptoms appear. These persistent virus infections can be caused by different viruses and may lead to a variety of pathogenic reactions and clinical manifestations. As far as knowledge goes, the mechanisms underlying a virus persistance are equally different. Within the space limitations, an attempt is made to present such mechanisms and to derive from them the pathogenesis of the follow-up diseases.