myxovirus Biol.
(ˈmɪksəʊvaɪərəs)
[mod.L., f. myxo- (see quot. 1954) + virus.]
Any of a group of related viruses that includes the influenza virus (see quot. 1966). (At first the term was used to include the paramyxoviruses, later regarded as a separate group.)
| [1954 Nature 3 Apr. 621/1 The group name Myxovirus for viruses related to influenza was intended to indicate that the viruses in question have a particular kind of affinity for certain mucins.] 1955 Virology I. 180 When tests are made with fowl red cells it has not been shown that the same receptors are involved as with other Myxoviruses. 1962 C. H. Andrewes in Adv. Virus Res. IX. 285 The known myxoviruses are: 1. True influenzas... 2. Paramyxoviruses... The viruses of the second group differ from the ‘true influenzas’ in their larger, more variable size, in the absence of filamentous forms (except for NDV) and in normally producing hemolysins as well as hemagglutinins... 3. Viruses possibly related to myxoviruses—measles, distemper, rinderpest. 1966 J. E. Prier Basic Med. Virol. x. 247/1 In effect then, a new definition of the myxovirus group has emerged that is oriented around these biophysical characteristics: (a) a size range of 80 to 300 mµ..; (b) possession of a coiled ribonucleoprotein inner helix surrounded by an envelope studded with projections; and (c) the presence of lipid as an essential constituent of the virus particle. 1968 H. Harris Nucleus & Cytoplasm v. 90 The virus used in this work was the ‘Sendai’ virus, a member of the para-influenza group of myxoviruses. 1974 Sci. Amer. Feb. 33/2 Myxoviruses (influenza viruses) and paramyxoviruses..have a set of genes that encodes the manufacture of several viral proteins. |