“…This continued virus-host co-evolution has resulted in the acquisition of a series of host-specific genes, which benefit the virus. A number of these genes have augmented viral replication capacity; and the acquisition of anti-apoptotic and immune-evasion genes appear to evade the host immune response preventing complete elimination of the virus during primary infection [ 19 ]. In addition to human CMV [ 20 – 24 ], cytomegaloviruses have been isolated and characterized from a number of different non-human primate (NHP) species, including but not limited to, chimpanzees [ 25 , 26 ], rhesus macaques [ 27 , 28 ], cynomolgus macaques [ 29 , 30 ] as well as more distant species involving guinea pigs [ 31 , 32 ], mice [ 33 ], rats [ 34 ], and tree shrews [ 35 ], among others.…”