Hep C in its chronic form isn't exactly "latent" in the way that a lentivirus or a herpesvirus can be, but it's the closest thing I can think of in terms of an

Hep C in its chronic form isn't exactly "latent" in the way that a lentivirus or a herpesvirus can be, but it's the closest thing I can think of in terms of an RNA virus that replicates with RNA dependent RNA polymerase that has something resembling a "latent" form. It still replicates and has turnover due to the low stability of RNA as you mentioned, but it stays asymptomatic for decades in this infection course. I"m sure a virologist might be able to chime in with a better example, maybe a nonhuman one? There's so much variation in biology it'd almost be surprising if some RNA virus somewhere hadn't figured out some weird way to stabilize an RNA episome somehow https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hepatitis_C#Chronic_infection https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hepatitis_C#Chronic_infection https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hepatitis_C_virus#Replication https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hepatitis_C_virus#Replication