EIF2A and viral infectious disease: It is speculated that viral proteins may alter ER member morphology and induce the ISR at the early stage of viral infection, phosphorylated eIF2α blocks cellular protein translation, including viral proteins, viral proteins that accumulate in the ER induced prolonged ER stress with a persistent viral infection, and viruses or viral proteins may suppress ER stress-induced cell death via modulating UPRs to promote autophagic activity and provide the replication platform and ATP energy for viral synthesis.