eli5: what happens if two different types of viruses infect the same cell?

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eli5: what happens if two different types of viruses infect the same cell?

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Anonymous 0 Comments

It depends.
Is it RNA viruses replicating fast or DNA viruses replicating slowly?
Do they use the same cellular components for replication? This way I’m not able to be sure which one will outcompete.

What is known for sure about such cases of superinfection. Material exchange between two viruses is possible. Formation of chimeric viruses as well. Especially if one is good at splicing.

To sum it up, superinfection is a frequent issue because 100% of us are virus positive, and single agent infection is usually achieved only in the lab.

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