I spent a good deal of time reviewing this issue since it has been an ongoing source of vexation./virus/ is not a masculine noun. It is a fourth declension neuter. Looking through classical and post-classical attestations, the plural is very rare (it occurs mostly in agricultural discussions). No doubt this is owing to the ancient's inability to conceive of plural 'slime'. Since, though,/virus/ has extensive use in modern medical and computer science speech, it should take an English plural and be rendered: 'viruses'. Sit finis!
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I spent a good deal of time reviewing this issue since it has been an ongoing source of vexation. /virus/ is not a masculine noun. It is a fourth declension neuter. Looking through classical and post-classical attestations, the plural is very rare (it occurs mostly in agricultural discussions). No doubt this is owing to the ancient's inability to conceive of plural 'slime'. Since, though, /virus/ has extensive use in modern medical and computer science speech, it should take an English plural and be rendered: 'viruses'. Sit finis!