How can this be? If it infects your cells then your cells are not functioning properly. What am I missing here?
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I believe that what is meant is that the virus is able to get inside the cell and live there despite the cell or bodies’ defense against such intrusion. So, you’d find this virus inside cells but no disease or pathogenic indications - the cell tolerates the presence of the virus. As another FReeper noted - this doesn’t always remain static and the virus can mutate or adapt to cause problems not previously experienced. But it’s possible we would be willing to swap that risk and or problem in place of cancer.
How can this be? If it infects your cells then your cells are not functioning properly. What am I missing here?
The reason viruses infect cells is
because the cells are functioning properly. The virus uses normal cellular processes to gain entry. Take HIV as an example. People who are resistant or immune to HIV are so because of a mutation in the gene for a receptor protein called CCR5. HIV gains entry using the
CD4 and CCR5 receptor proteins. People who are heterozygous for the CCR5 mutation are, for the most part, immune to HIV infection. They comprise about 1% of the Caucasian population. In this case, the cell is
not functioning properly. It lacks its full complement of receptor proteins, but it's that "defect" or "not functioning properly" that protects it and, as a result, the rest of the body from the virus.