Group B coxsackieviruses readily establish persistent infections in human lymphoid cell lines.

Exposing human lymphoid cell lines to uncloned or recently cloned group B coxsackieviruses results in the frequent establishment of chronically infected cultures. Persistence is maintained by a carrier culture mechanism involving virus spread through the medium and replication among a minority of cells at any given time. These studies provide a model for persistence by highly cytocidal viruses.