slow virus

noun

: any of various infectious agents now usually considered to be prions that have a long incubation period between infection and the clinical appearance of the associated disease compare prion disease

Word History

First Known Use

1965, in the meaning defined above

Medical Definition

slow virus

noun

: any of various viruses (as a lentivirus) or prions having a long incubation period between infection and the clinical appearance of the slowly progressive serious or fatal disease (as scrapie, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, or AIDS) associated with it