“…The effects of environmental radiation on host-viral dynamics in natural systems are unknown. While high doses (in excess of several kilograys, kGy) of ionizing radiation inactivate viruses [19,20], exposure to lower doses (2.5-25 Gy) can activate replication in some viruses, such as cytomegalovirus [21], endogenous retroviruses [22], human immunodeficiency virus [23], hepatitis B virus [24,25], Epstein-Barr virus [26,27], reovirus [28], herpes simplex virus [29], parvoviruses [30,31], and poliovirus [32]. Virus activation by irradiation may be facilitated by radiation-mediated immunosuppression that makes the host more susceptible to virus infection and replication [33][34][35], or by radiation-induced activation of the DNA repair proteins that some viruses utilize in their replication [36,37].…”