Early DNA replication inside a cell has been neglected because it is assumed to be incapable of transmission to other cells. The exception to this takes place when those cells are produced by clonal expansion of infected immune cells.
That is a very interesting observation, anciendaze.
What I find intriguing is how ME/CFS is mostly linked to pathogens that can form
chronic intracellular infections, which do not destroy cells, rather than infections that destroy cells via lysis.
In the case of EBV, we find that this virus can produce proteins inside the cell even in latent states of this virus. Enterovirus, a virus strongly linked to ME/CFS, is another example of a pathogen which produces chronic intracellular infections (
non-cytolytic enterovirus infections as they are called in this case).
Then in the case of the two bacteria which are known to cause ME/CFS, namely
Chlamydia pneumoniae and
Coxiella burnetii, are both
obligate intracellular bacteria, which means in their normal lifecycle, they only form intracellular infections, inside cells.
My hunch is that these chronic intracellular infections may all have one thing in common: they may all give rise to abnormal immune responses, such as autoimmunity or unexplained chronic inflammation, because these infections are active inside human cells, and so will likely elect immune responses.