A process which occurs as part of viral mRNA translation which allows expression of a downstream open reading frame (ORF) in a dicistronic mRNA. In this process, ribosomes translate the upstream ORF but following termination, a proportion of 40S subunits remain tethered to the mRNA and go on to re-initiate translation at the start codon of the downstream ORF.
viral translation involving termination-reinitiation