any of the animal viruses that cause papillomas or polyomas
Word origin
C20: from initial syllables of pa(pilloma), po(lyoma), and va(cuolating) + virus
papovavirus in American English
(pəˈpoʊvəˌvaɪrəs)
noun
any of a family (Papovaviridae) of DNA viruses, including the papillomaviruses and polyomaviruses, associated with the growthof tumors in a wide range of animals