What is "virino"

n. (microbiology) a hypothetical infectious particle thought to be the cause of scrapie and other degenerative diseases of the central nervous system; consists of nucleic acid in a protective coat of host cell proteins

The virino is a hypothetical infectious particle that was once theorized to be the cause of scrapie and other degenerative diseases of the central nervous system; it was thought to consist of nucleic acids in a protective coat of host cell proteins. The hypothesis was never widely accepted and the causative agents responsible for these diseases are now known to be prions.