myxomatosis

Noun

myxomatosis (uncountable)

1. A usually fatal viral disease of rabbits, causing skin tumors.
   • In addition to new diseases, Quammen touches on many of the examples often included in standard disease ecology or epidemiology courses—for example, myxomatosis in nonnative rabbits of Australia, and mutation rates in RNA versus DNA viruses.2013 January, Katie L. Burke, “Ecological Dependency”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 1, United States: Sigma Xi, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 09 Feb 2017, page 64
   • “A lot of factors have contributed to the rabbit population explosion: there was the pandemic, when no one could hunt for two years; they’ve become immune to myxomatosis; and the female can produce seven or eight offspring every two months,” Foix says.2023 April 24, Stephen Burgen, “Catalonia’s farmers face threat of drought … and a plague of hungry rabbits”, in The Guardian, →ISSN
2. (broadly) A condition characterized by the growth of many myxomata (tumors of primitive connective tissue).