Highlights•Persistent infections as reservoirs of infection and RNA virus epidemiology.•
Disease and immune consequences of persistent RNA virus infections.•The role of host
responses and virus mechanisms in the establishment of persistent infections.In a
prototypical response to an acute viral infection it would be expected that the adaptive
immune response would eliminate all virally infected cells within a few weeks of infection.
However many (non-retrovirus) RNA viruses can establish 'within host'persistent infections …