Upon recruitment to sites of drusen formation in patients who manifest the dry form of AMD, HCMV-infected monocytes would mature into tissue-resident macrophages with active virus replication, become polarized toward the pro-angiogenic M2 phenotype, and become a major source for production of a number of pro-angiogenic factors including VEGF that would amplify choroidal neovascularization associated with the wet form of AMD. Here, VEGFA is linked to age-related macular degeneration.