Figure 1. . Model for the maintenance of overwhelming numbers of cytomegalovirus-specific T cells during persistent/latent infection in a healthy host.

After acute infection, CMV titers (red line) fall below the limit of detection. However, stochastic reactivation events stimulate proliferative memory-phenotype T cells (blue line) to divide and differentiate, producing effector T-cell progeny (green line) that are poorly proliferative and have a relatively short half-life.

CMV: Cytomegalovirus; T_EFF: Effector T cell; T_M: Memory T cell.