In herpes latency, the virus hides in the ganglia of which kind of nerve fibers?

• A. Motor nerve fibers
• B. Autonomic nerve fibers
• C. Sensory nerve fibers
• D. Cranial nerves only

Answer: (C)

Latency is established in the sensory ganglia—the cell bodies of sensory neurons that innervate skin and mucosa. After the initial infection, herpes hides there in a dormant state, evading immune detection, and can reactivate later to travel back along the same sensory fibers to the skin or mucosa in the corresponding dermatome. This is why recurrences occur in that same sensory distribution. Motor nerve fibers control movement and aren’t typical reservoirs for latent herpes. Autonomic fibers regulate involuntary functions and aren’t the usual site for latency either. While cranial nerve ganglia can be involved (as with certain trigeminal cases), latency is fundamentally in sensory neuron ganglia, not limited to cranial nerves only.