slow virus
noun
: any of various infectious agents now usually considered to be prions that have a long incubation period between infection and the clinical appearance of the associated disease compare prion disease
Word History
First Known Use
1965, in the meaning defined above
Medical Definition
slow virus
noun
: any of various viruses (as a lentivirus) or prions having a long incubation period between infection and the clinical appearance of the slowly progressive serious or fatal disease (as scrapie, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, or AIDS) associated with it