Detection of varicella‐zoster virus nucleic acid in neurons of normal human thoracic ganglia

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Abstract
Tissue sections from four normal human thoracic ganglia were hybridized in situ with a varicella-zoster virus—RNA probe. Varicella-zoster virus was detected in two of four ganglia, localized exclusively in neurons. The detection of latent varicella-zoster virus genetic material in thoracic ganglia provides further evidence of varicella-zoster virus latency at multiple levels of the human neuraxis and supports the notion that the neuron is the primary site of herpesvirus latency.