slow virus

slow virus

n.

Any of a group of animal viruses that cause diseases having an unusually long incubation period, as Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. Also called lentivirus.

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slow virus

n

(Medicine / Pathology) any of a class of virus-like disease-causing agents known as prions that are present in the body for a long time before becoming active or infectious and are very resistant to radiation and similar factors: believed to be the cause of BSE and scrapie

Thesaurus

Noun

1.

slow virus - a virus that remains dormant in the body for a long time before symptoms appear; "kuru is caused by a slow virus" virus - (virology) ultramicroscopic infectious agent that replicates itself only within cells of living hosts; many are pathogenic; a piece of nucleic acid (DNA or RNA) wrapped in a thin coat of protein