arborvirus meaning

Noun: arborvirus

1. 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
   - arbovirus

Derived forms: arborviruses

Type of: virus

Examples

1. Each year, researchers work with about 125 other viruses in the Yale Arborvirus Research Unit, which is supported in part by the World Health Organization.
2. The head of the Arborvirus Research Unit at Yale, Dr . Robert E . Shope, said in an interview that the researcher's incubation period was shorter, perhaps because he was exposed to a larger than usual amount of virus in the laboratory accident.
3. The U . S . federal government revised its diagnosis from St . Louis encephalitis to West Nile virus on September 27, 1999, citing research by Dr . Duane J . Gubler, a C . D . C . expert on arborviruses, as well as several bird deaths in the Bronx, located to the north of Queens.