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Medical Definition of Simian vacuolating virus No. 40
1. A small (40 to 45 nm) DNA virus of the genus Polyomavirus, family Papovaviridae; the cause of seemingly inapparent infections in monkeys, especially rhesus, and a common contaminant of monkey cell cultures; the virus may cause inapparent infection in humans and may be excreted in stools of children for several weeks; it can produce fibrosarcoma in suckling hamsters, and transformation may occur in human diploid cells; it may also form "hybrid" virus in cells also infected with certain adenoviruses. Synonym: simian virus 40. (05 Mar 2000)