Lactate dehydrogenase elevating virus

Lactate dehydrogenase elevating virus, or LDV for short, belongs to part of the arteriviridae family and the nidovirales order. Also included in the nidovirales order are the coronaviridae. The arteriviridae infect macrophages in animals and cause a variety of diseases. LDV specifically causes lifelong persistent viremia in mice, but doesn't really harm the host and only slightly harms the immune system. The main clinical sign is an increased level of the plasma enzyme lactate dehydrogenase (LDH). LDV has a remarkably narrow cell type specificity, meaning nothing homologous with LDV in mice has been found in another species.