Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

quarantine

(Encyclopedia)quarantine kwŏrˈəntēn [key], isolation of persons, animals, places, and effects that carry or are suspected of harboring communicable disease. The term originally referred to the 40 days of offsho...

pyorrhea

(Encyclopedia)pyorrhea pīərēˈə [key], inflammation and degeneration of the gums and other tissues surrounding the teeth. The onset of the disease is marked by bleeding of the gums. As the disease proceeds, the...

Peters, Vera

(Encyclopedia)Peters, Vera (Mildred Vera Peters), 1911–93, Canadian radiation oncologist and clinical investigator, b. Rexdale, Ont., M.D. Univ. of Toronto, 1934. Beginning in 1935, she studied the treatment of H...

smallpox

(Encyclopedia)smallpox, acute, highly contagious disease causing a high fever and successive stages of severe skin eruptions. Occurring worldwide in epidemics, it killed up to 40% of those who contracted it and acc...

cowpox

(Encyclopedia)cowpox, infectious disease of cows caused by a virus related to the virus of smallpox. Also called variola, it is characterized by pustular lesions on the teats and udder. Cowpox is transmitted by con...

pellagra

(Encyclopedia)pellagra pəlăgˈrə [key], deficiency disease due to a lack of niacin (nicotinic acid), one of the components of the B complex vitamins in the diet. Niacin is plentiful in yeast, organ meats, peanut...

agranulocytosis

(Encyclopedia)agranulocytosis əgrănˌyəlōsītōˈsis [key], disease in which the production of granulated white blood cells by the bone marrow is impaired. Although the disease may occur spontaneously it is usu...

tularemia

(Encyclopedia)tularemia to͞olərēˈmēə [key] or rabbit fever, acute, infectious disease caused by Francisella tularensis (Pasteurella tularensis). The greatest incidence is among people who handle infected wild...

communicable diseases

(Encyclopedia)communicable diseases, illnesses caused by microorganisms and transmitted from an infected person or animal to another person or animal. Some diseases are passed on by direct or indirect contact with ...

cryptosporidium

(Encyclopedia)cryptosporidium krĭpˌtōspərĭdˈēəm [key], genus of protozoans having at least four species; they are waterborne parasites that cause the disease cryptosporidiosis. One of the species appears to...