Viral shedding is the expulsion and release of

virus A virus is a submicroscopic infectious agent that replicates only inside the living cells of an organism. Viruses infect all life forms, from animals and plants to microorganisms, including bacteria and archaea. Since Dmitri Ivanovsk ...

progeny following successful reproduction during a host

cell Cell most often refers to: * Cell (biology), the functional basic unit of life Cell may also refer to: Locations * Monastic cell, a small room, hut, or cave in which a religious recluse lives, alternatively the small precursor of a monastery ...

infection. Once replication has been completed and the host cell is exhausted of all resources in making viral progeny, the viruses may begin to leave the cell by several methods. The term is variously used to refer to viral particles shedding from a single cell, from one part of the body into another, and from a body into the environment, where the virus may infect another. Vaccine shedding is a form of viral shedding which can occur in instances of infection caused by some attenuated (or "live virus") vaccines.

Means

Shedding from a cell into extracellular space

Budding (through cell envelope)

"Budding" through the

cell envelope The cell envelope comprises the inner cell membrane and the cell wall of a bacterium. In gram-negative bacteria an outer membrane is also included. This envelope is not present in the Mollicutes where the cell wall is absent. Bacterial cell env ...

—in effect, borrowing from the

cell membrane The cell membrane (also known as the plasma membrane (PM) or cytoplasmic membrane, and historically referred to as the plasmalemma) is a biological membrane that separates and protects the interior of all cells from the outside environment ( ...

to create the virus's own

viral envelope A viral envelope is the outermost layer of many types of viruses. It protects the genetic material in their life cycle when traveling between host cells. Not all viruses have envelopes. Numerous human pathogenic viruses in circulation are encase ...

— into

extracellular This glossary of biology terms is a list of definitions of fundamental terms and concepts used in biology, the study of life and of living organisms. It is intended as introductory material for novices; for more specific and technical definitions ...

space is most effective for viruses that require their own envelope. These include such viruses as

HIV The human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV) are two species of ''Lentivirus'' (a subgroup of retrovirus) that infect humans. Over time, they cause acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a condition in which progressive failure of the immune ...

, HSV,

SARS Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) is a viral respiratory disease of zoonotic origin caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV or SARS-CoV-1), the first identified strain of the SARS coronavirus species, ''seve ...

smallpox Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by variola virus (often called smallpox virus) which belongs to the genus Orthopoxvirus. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (WHO) c ...

. When beginning the budding process, the viral nucleocapsid cooperates with a certain region of the host cell membrane. During this interaction, the glycosylated viral envelope protein inserts itself into the cell membrane. In order to successfully bud from the host cell, the nucleocapsid of the virus must form a connection with the cytoplasmic tails of envelope proteins. Though budding does not immediately destroy the host cell, this process will slowly use up the cell membrane and eventually lead to the cell's demise. This is also how antiviral responses are able to detect virus-infected cells. Budding has been most extensively studied for viruses of eukaryotes. However, it has been demonstrated that viruses infecting prokaryotes of the domain Archaea also employ this mechanism of virion release.

Apoptosis (cell destruction)

Animal cells are programmed to self-destruct when they are under viral attack or damaged in some other way. By forcing the cell to undergo apoptosis or cell suicide, release of progeny into the

space is possible. However, apoptosis does not necessarily result in the cell simply popping open and spilling its contents into the extracellular space. Rather, apoptosis is usually controlled and results in the cell's

genome In the fields of molecular biology and genetics, a genome is all the genetic information of an organism. It consists of nucleotide sequences of DNA (or RNA in RNA viruses). The nuclear genome includes protein-coding genes and non-coding g ...

being chopped up, before apoptotic bodies of dead cell material clump off the cell to be absorbed by

macrophages Macrophages (abbreviated as M φ, MΦ or MP) ( el, large eaters, from Greek ''μακρός'' (') = large, ''φαγεῖν'' (') = to eat) are a type of white blood cell of the immune system that engulfs and digests pathogens, such as cancer ce ...

. This is a good way for a virus to get into

either to infect them or simply travel to other tissues in the body. Although this process is primarily used by non-enveloped viruses, enveloped viruses may also use this.

is an example of an enveloped virus that exploits this process for the infection of macrophages.

Exocytosis (cell release)

Viruses that have envelopes that come from nuclear or endosomal membranes can leave the cell via exocytosis, in which the host cell is not destroyed. Viral progeny are synthesized within the cell, and the host cell's transport system is used to enclose them in vesicles; the vesicles of virus progeny are carried to the cell membrane and then released into the extracellular space. This is used primarily by non-enveloped viruses, although enveloped viruses display this too. An example is the use of recycling viral particle receptors in the enveloped

varicella-zoster virus Varicella-zoster virus (VZV), also known as human herpesvirus 3 (HHV-3, HHV3) or ''Human alphaherpesvirus 3'' (taxonomically), is one of nine known herpes viruses that can infect humans. It causes chickenpox (varicella) commonly affecting chil ...

Shedding from one part of the body to another

Shedding from a body into the environment

Contagiousness

A human with a viral disease can be contagious if they are shedding virus particles, even if they are unaware of doing so. Some viruses such as HSV-2 (which produces

genital herpes Genital herpes is an infection by the herpes simplex virus (HSV) of the genitals. Most people either have no or mild symptoms and thus do not know they are infected. When symptoms do occur, they typically include small blisters that break open ...

) can cause '' asymptomatic shedding'' and therefore spread undetected from person to person, as no fever or other hints reveal the contagious nature of the host.

References

{{Use dmy dates, date=April 2017 Virology Viral life cycle