intermediate host
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of intermediate host
First recorded in 1875–80
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Vandegrift has speculated that mice might act as an intermediate host, but tests his team did of white-footed mice living near a research colony of deer infected with SARS‐CoV‑2 came back negative.
From Science Magazine ● Apr. 29, 2024
The 2009 swine H1N1 virus was a mixing event that led to mammalian adaptation, a process that is not straightforward in any intermediate host.
From Salon ● Apr. 18, 2024
Viruses such as SARS-CoV-2, SARS-CoV-1, Nipah, Hendra and possibly Ebola have all fatally spilled over from bats to humans, sometimes through an intermediate host.
From Science Daily ● Mar. 26, 2024
Even if raccoon dogs at the market were infected, they might have been an intermediate host, picking up the virus from bats or another species.
From New York Times ● Mar. 17, 2023
In the latter case the insect may act as an intermediate host.
From Insects and Diseases A Popular Account of the Way in Which Insects may Spread or Cause some of our Common Diseases by Doane, Rennie Wilbur
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
