Medical

unconventional virus

unconventional 'virus'

An infectious agent, formerly regarded as slow viruses, now known as prions, a small infectious particle, consisting entirely of subverted cell protein; prions cause degenerative encephalopathies in sheep and goats–scrapie, cows–bovine spongiform encephalopathy, humans–kuru, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. See Kuru, Prions, Slow viruses.
McGraw-Hill Concise Dictionary of Modern Medicine. © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
Mentioned in
References in periodicals archive
In his seminal article, he summarized experimental data indicating that the molecular properties of this infectious agent differed from those of other infectious agents, including viruses, viroids, and plasmids; he proposed the word prion to replace other terms then in circulation, such as "unconventional virus" or "unusual slow virus-like agent."
Etymologia: prion
Copyright © 2003-2025 Farlex, Inc Disclaimer
All content on this website, including dictionary, thesaurus, literature, geography, and other reference data is for informational purposes only. This information should not be considered complete, up to date, and is not intended to be used in place of a visit, consultation, or advice of a legal, medical, or any other professional.