cowpox (redirected from Cowpox virus)

cowpox /cow·pox/ (kou´poks) a mild eruptive disease of milk cows, confined to the udder and teats, due to cowpox virus, and transmissible to humans.

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cow·pox (koupks)

n.

A mild, contagious skin disease of cattle, usually affecting the udder, that is caused by a virus and characterized by the eruption of a pustular rash. When the virus is transmitted to humans, as by vaccination, it can confer immunity to smallpox. Also called vaccinia.

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cowpox

[kou′poks]

Etymology: AS, cu + ME, pokkes

a mild infectious disease characterized by a pustular rash, caused by the vaccinia virus. Animals that carry the vaccinia virus are cows, cats, and rodents. Human cases are usually rare. Transmission to humans can occur during the milking of a cow with active lesions on the udder and teats, but the disease is usually transmitted by domesticated cats. Cowpox infection usually confers immunity to smallpox, because of the similarity of the variola and vaccinia viruses. Also called cat pox. See also smallpox, vaccinia.

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cowpox [kow´poks]

a mild pustular eruption affecting milk cows, usually confined to the udder and teats, caused by the vaccinia virus, and transmissible to humans. Edward Jenner, in the 18th century, discovered that cowpox could be transmitted to humans who milked or tended cattle, and also noted that persons who contracted it in this way seldom contracted smallpox. This discovery led to vaccination against smallpox.

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cowpox

a benign, contagious disease of cows characterized by the appearance of pox lesions on the teat and udder skin. The causative virus is in the genus Orthopoxvirus. Typical lesions are a patch of erythema, then a papule, followed by a vesicle, then a pustule and finally a scab. The disease is transmissible to humans and is now rare.

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cowpox virus

a poxvirus which is antigenically distinct from vaccinia virus and pseudocowpox virus. The characteristics of the virus are otherwise identical with the vaccinia virus. See also vaccinia.