avirulent, a.
(æˈvɪrjʊlənt, eɪ-)
[f. a- 14 + virulent a.]
Not virulent.
| 1900 in Dorland Med. Dict. 1949 Florey et al. Antibiotics I. xxxiii. 1094 Iland (1946) found that an avirulent strain was more effective in this respect than the virulent strains. 1960 New Biol. XXXI. 72 In 1928..Griffith..discovered that an avirulent and normally harmless strain of pneumococcus was changed into a virulent strain when injected into mice together with some virulent pneumococci that had been thoroughly killed by heating. |