bunyavirus

noun

bun·​ya·​vi·​rus ˈbən-yə-ˌvī-rəs 

: any of an order (Bunyavirales) or former family (Bunyaviridae) of usually spherical or pleomorphic single-stranded RNA viruses usually transmitted by the bite of an arthropod (such as a mosquito) or in the bodily secretions of rodents and including the hantaviruses and the causative agents of Rift Valley fever, sandfly fever, and some forms of encephalitis and hemorrhagic fever

Word History

Etymology

New Latin, from bunya- (from Bunyamwera, locale in western Uganda where the virus was isolated in 1943) + virus

First Known Use

1973, in the meaning defined above

Medical Definition

bunyavirus

noun

bun·​ya·​vi·​rus ˈbən-yə-ˌvī-rəs 

: any of an order (Bunyavirales) or former family (Bunyaviridae) of single-stranded RNA viruses that are spherical to pleomorphic in shape with projections of glycoprotein embedded in a surface bilayer of lipid, that are usually transmitted by the bite of an arthropod (as a mosquito) or in the bodily secretions of rodents, that infect vertebrates and arthropods, and that include the hantaviruses and the causative agents of Nairobi sheep disease, Rift Valley fever, sandfly fever, and some forms of encephalitis (as La Crosse encephalitis) and hemorrhagic fever