virus

Noun
  1. (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 (synset 101331343)
    referred to in: virology - the branch of medical science that studies viruses and viral diseases
    associated with:
    • virion - (virology) a complete viral particle; nucleic acid and capsid (and a lipid envelope in some viruses)
    • atrophic arthritis, rheumatism, rheumatoid arthritis - a chronic autoimmune disease with inflammation of the joints and marked deformities; something (possibly a virus) triggers an attack on the synovium by the immune system, which releases cytokines that stimulate an inflammatory reaction that can lead to the destruction of all components of the joint
    • inoculant, inoculum - a substance (a virus or toxin or immune serum) that is introduced into the body to produce or increase immunity to a particular disease
    is a type of:
    subtypes:
    • arborvirus, arbovirus - a large heterogeneous group of RNA viruses divisible into groups on the basis of the virions; they have been recovered from arthropods, bats, and rodents; most are borne by arthropods; they are linked by the epidemiologic concept of transmission between vertebrate hosts by arthropod vectors (mosquitoes, ticks, sandflies, midges, etc.) that feed on blood; they can cause mild fevers, hepatitis, hemorrhagic fever, and encephalitis
    • bacteriophage, phage - a virus that is parasitic (reproduces itself) in bacteria
    • plant virus - a plant pathogen that is a virus consisting of a single strand of RNA
    • animal virus - an animal pathogen that is a virus
    • slow virus - a virus that remains dormant in the body for a long time before symptoms appear
    • tumor virus - a cell-free filtrate held to be a virus responsible for a specific neoplasm
    • vector - (genetics) a virus or other agent that is used to deliver DNA to a cell
  2. A harmful or corrupting agency (synset 114031349)
    "bigotry is a virus that must not be allowed to spread"; "the virus of jealousy is latent in everyone"
    is a type of: agency, delegacy, representation - the state of serving as an official and authorized delegate or agent
  3. A software program capable of reproducing itself and usually capable of causing great harm to files or other programs on the same computer (synset 106597992)
    "a true virus cannot spread to another computer without human assistance"
    is a type of: malevolent program - a computer program designed to have undesirable or harmful effects
    same as: computer virus

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