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Visna maedi virus

(Science: virology) A retrovirus of sheep and goats. A member of the lentivirus subfamily related to hIV.

first identified in Iceland when it was introduced by sheep imported from Germany and causes two diseases the most common, maedi, is a pulmonary infection (maedi is Icelandic for shortness of breath) and when it infects the nervous system, visna, a paralysis similar to multiple sclerosis (visna is Icelandic for wasting).