Flaviviruses

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A group of viruses belonging to a genus characterized by single-stranded RNA and transmitted primarily by arthropods such as mosquitoes and ticks, causing diseases like dengue and yellow fever
2. Viruses classified within a genus known for causing infections spread through bites from insects like mosquitoes and ticks, possessing a single-stranded RNA genome and linked to illnesses such as Zika and West Nile virus
3. Members of a virus genus that are transmitted by blood-feeding arthropods, contain single-stranded RNA, and are responsible for various human diseases including dengue fever, yellow fever, and encephalitis

Etymology: Flaviviruses are named for the yellow fever virus, which gave the group its genus name. The Latin "flavus" means "yellow" or "golden," and "virus" is the Latin word for poison, so the genus name, Flavivirus, joins a colour to the most famous disease it caused. Yellow fever gets its name from the jaundice that turns patients' skin and eyes yellow in its severe stages, and the many related viruses that share its genus were grouped under that name because they resemble it in their structure and the way they spread. The plural "flaviviruses" is simply the regular English plural of "flavivirus," formed by adding "-es" to a word ending in "-s." The noun is a scientific coinage, so its meaning is fixed by the genus rather than by everyday usage: any virus placed in that genus is a flavivirus, and the group includes the dengue, Zika, and West Nile viruses, all carried by mosquitoes.

Synonyms: flavivirus