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epidemiology

(Encyclopedia)epidemiology, field of medicine concerned with the study of epidemics, outbreaks of disease that affect large numbers of people. Epidemiologists, using sophisticated statistical analyses, field invest...

yaws

(Encyclopedia)yaws or frambesia, tropical infection of the skin caused by a spirochete (Treponema pertenue) closely related to that causing syphilis. Yaws, however, is not a sexually transmitted disease, i.e., it i...

slow virus

(Encyclopedia)slow virus, technically a virus, such as a lentivirus, that causes symptoms in an infected host long after the original infection and progresses slowly. Although many viruses fit this description, the...

gonorrhea

(Encyclopedia)gonorrhea gŏnərēˈə [key], common infectious disease caused by a bacterium (Neisseria gonorrhoeae), involving chiefly the mucous membranes of the genitourinary tract. It may occasionally spread to...

anaplasmosis

(Encyclopedia)anaplasmosis ănˌəplăzmōˈsĭs [key], infectious blood disease in cattle, sheep, and goats, caused by a rickettsia of the genus Anaplasma. The organism parasitizes red blood cells, causing their d...

dengue fever

(Encyclopedia)dengue fever dĕngˈgē, –gā [key], acute infectious disease caused by four closely related viruses and transmitted by the bite of the female Aedes mosquito; it is also known as breakbone fever and...

sprue

(Encyclopedia)sprue, chronic disorder of the small intestine caused by impaired absorption of fat and other nutrients. Two forms of the disease exist. Tropical sprue occurs in central and northern South America, As...

plague

(Encyclopedia)plague, any contagious, malignant, epidemic disease, in particular the bubonic plague and the black plague (or Black Death), both forms of the same infection. These acute febrile diseases are caused b...

diseases of plants

(Encyclopedia)diseases of plants. Most plant diseases are caused by fungi, bacteria, and viruses. Although the term disease is usually used only for the destruction of live plants, the action of dry rot and the rot...

acquired characteristics

(Encyclopedia)acquired characteristics, modifications produced in an individual plant or animal as a result of mutilation, disease, use and disuse, or any distinctly environmental influence. Some examples are docki...