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Glite Dictionary
filovirus

filovirus

1 9.9
A virus like Ebola that causes a serious bleeding illness in people and monkeys
  • noun
  • /ˈfɪləˌvaɪrəs/
  • Specialized
: filovirus
  • The chronology of filovirus epidemics and epizootics proves that these viruses are prototypes of emerging/re-emerging pathogens.

Examples

  • His research interest is the genomic study of filovirus and orthopoxvirus infections.

    Academic text (2014)

  • This volume gives an overview of many aspects of filovirus research and summarizes recent advances in the ...

    Blog text (1)

  • Have you ever seen filovirus infection in a human being?

    Fiction book (1995)

  • The route of infection for index cases of human filovirus exposures is unknown.

    Academic text (1995)

  • Crawling with the filovirus.

    Fiction book (1993)

  • Immunoelectron microscopy confirmed that the filovirus seen in the tissue of these monkeys was the Ebola virus.

    Academic text (1995)

  • PHOTO (BLACK & WHITE): Figure: Electron micrograph of thin section through monkey spleen shows aggregate of filovirus particles (arrow), often seen in areas of fibrin deposition (*).

    Academic text (1995)

  • The Ebola virus is a type of filovirus responsible for causing severe hemorrhagic fever in humans.

  • Researchers are studying the filovirus outbreak to understand how it spreads among primates.

  • In Reston, Virginia, a quarantine was imposed after a filovirus was discovered in a colony of monkeys.

Surface Forms

filovirus singular
filoviruses plural

Morphology

filovirus = virus (semi-transparent) = filo + virus + filo

The relation to 'virus' is clear, but the combining form 'filo-' (thread- or filament-like) is not familiar to many learners, so the specific sense 'filamentous virus' is not fully transparent.

Etymology

The word filovirus comes from the prefix filo- meaning 'thread', the same root you can see in filament, and virus meaning 'poison' or 'germ'. So, these viruses are called filoviruses because they look like long, thin threads under a microscope and cause serious disease such as Ebola.