myxomatosisformally infectious myxomatosis, or myxomatosis cuniculia highly fatal infectious viral disease of rabbits. It is characterized by fever, swelling of the mucous membranes, and the presence on the of nodular skin of tumours composed of mucous tissue. The disease exists naturally in populations of certain South American rabbits of the genus Sylvilagus and has been introduced into western Europe and Australia as a means of rabbit population control.