Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) glanders, highly contagious disease of horses, mules, and donkeys, caused by the bacterium Actinobacillus mallei. Although it can be transmitted to humans, it is limited almost exclusively to handlers...

(Encyclopedia) nephritis nəfrīˈtəs [key], inflammation of the kidney. The earliest finding is within the renal capillaries (glomeruli); interstitial edema is typically followed by interstitial infiltration of ly...

(Encyclopedia) chlamydia kləmĭdˈēə [key], genus of microorganisms that cause a variety of diseases in humans and other animals. Psittacosis, or parrot fever, caused by the species Chlamydia psittaci, is transmi...

(Encyclopedia) rotavirus, double-stranded RNA virus, genus Rotavirus, with a wheellike appearance that can cause severe watery diarrhea and vomiting, sometimes leading to severe dehydration and death. The virus is t...

(Encyclopedia) trypanosomiasis trəpănˌəsōmīˈəsis [key], infectious disease caused by a protozoan organism, the trypanosome, which exists as a parasite in the blood of a number of vertebrate hosts. The three ...

(Encyclopedia) prophylaxis prōˌfĭlăkˈsĭs [key], measures designed to prevent the occurrence of disease or its dissemination. Some examples of prophylaxis are immunization against serious diseases such as small...

(Encyclopedia) rash, nonspecific term for an eruption of the skin. It may result from skin allergy, skin irritation, or skin disease, or it may be a symptom of a systemic disease like measles, smallpox, or scarlet f...

(Encyclopedia) schistosomiasis bĭlˌhärzīˈəsĭs [key], or snail fever, parasitic disease caused by blood flukes, trematode worms of the genus Schistosoma. Three species are human parasites: S. mansoni, S. japon...

(Encyclopedia) yellow fever, acute infectious disease endemic in tropical Africa and many areas of South and Central America. Yellow fever is caused by a virus transmitted by the bite of the female Aedes aegypti mos...

(Encyclopedia) rickettsia rĭkĕtˈsēə [key], any of an order (Rickettsiales) of very small microorganisms, many disease-causing, that live in vertebrates and are transmitted by bloodsucking parasitic arthropods s...