Reoviruses

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Groups of double-stranded RNA viruses that infect the respiratory and intestinal tracts of humans and other animals without causing serious illness in most cases
2. Members of a virus family whose genomes consist of segmented double-stranded RNA and which are found in mammals, birds, reptiles and plants
3. Viruses belonging to the Reoviridae family, which are typically harmless in humans but are studied extensively in molecular biology and cancer research

Etymology: The plural "reoviruses" is simply the plural of "reovirus," a term for a family of double-stranded RNA viruses. The name itself is an acronym, and an unexpected one: "reo" stands for "respiratory enteric orphan," because these viruses were first isolated from the respiratory and intestinal tracts of humans, and at the time they were not linked to any known disease, which is why they were called "orphan" viruses. The "virus" ending is the ordinary English word, borrowed from Latin "virus," meaning poison or slimy liquid, a sense that carried over into the modern scientific term.