ABSTRACT
A cytotoxic T-cell effector response is an integral part of the inflammatory process, again particularly in the acute selflimiting viral diseases. For descriptive purposes, a viral infection can be viewed as occurring in one of two general forms: an acute form in which the course of disease is limited in time and space, and a chronic form in which the viral disease process and host/virus interaction tend to occur over a long period of time. For many viral diseases, clinical signs are coincident with the appearance of virus in the tissues and thus the lesions and/or signs of disease are directly attributable to the virus. The final form of chronic host/viral interaction that may or may not have expressed virus associated with it, is that of virus-induced neoplastic transformation, or cancer. For diagnostic pathologists and virologists, the gross and histopathologic diagnosis of a viral infection can be rendered with confidence if the lesion detected is characteristic.
