Contracted disease from meat when hosted by soldier? Not here (6)
I believe the answer is:
absent
'not here' is the definition.
(absent from this place)
'contracted disease from meat when hosted by soldier?' is the wordplay.
'contracted disease from meat' becomes 'BSE' (abbreviation for bovine spongiform encephalopathy).
'when hosted by' indicates putting letters inside (inserted letters are hosted or welcomed in).
'soldier?' becomes 'ant' (soldier is a type of ant).
'bse' going within 'ant' is 'ABSENT'.
(Other definitions for absent that I've seen before include "AWOL" , "Forgetful, with mind on other things" , "Not attending" , "Not at a specified place" , "Not present - vacuous" .)