What term is used to describe viruses that live in a dormant state inside the body?
dorment
potential
hidden
latency
Some viruses live in a dormant state inside the body. This is called latency . For example, the virus that causes chicken pox may infect a young child and cause the short-term disease chicken pox. Then the virus may remain latent in nerve cells within the body for decades. The virus may re-emerge later in life as the disease called shingles. In shingles, the virus causes painful skin rashes with blisters (see Figure below ).