| epidemic cerebrospinal meningitis | An acute infectious disease affecting children and young adults, caused by Neisseria meningitidis; characterised by nasopharyngeal catarrh, headache, vomiting, convulsions, stiffness in the neck (nuchal rigidity), photophobia, constipation, cutaneous hyperesthesia, a purpuric or herpetic eruption, and the presence of Kernig's sign. Fulminant form may cause Waterhouse-Friderichsen syndrome. Synonym: cerebrospinal fever, epidemic cerebrospinal meningitis. (05 Mar 2000) |
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| epidemic curve | A graph in which the number of new cases of a disease is plotted against an interval of time to describe a specific epidemic or outbreak. (05 Mar 2000) |
| epidemic diaphragmatic pleurisy | An acute infectious disease usually occurring in epidemic form, characterised by paroxysms of pain, usually in the chest, and associated with strains of Enterovirus coxsackievirus type B. Synonym: benign dry pleurisy, Bornholm disease, Daae's disease, devil's grip, diaphragmatic pleurisy, epidemic benign dry pleurisy, epidemic diaphragmatic pleurisy, epidemic myalgia, epidemic myositis, myositis epidemica acuta, epidemic transient diaphragmatic spasm, Sylvest's disease. (05 Mar 2000) |
| epidemic disease | Marked increase in prevalence of a disease in a specific population or area, usually with an environmental cause, such as an infectious or toxic agent. (05 Mar 2000) |
| epidemic dropsy | A disease causing occasional epidemics in India and Mauritius; marked by oedema, anaemia, eruptive angiomatosis, and mild fever; may be associated with nutritional deficiency. (05 Mar 2000) |
| epidemic encephalitis | A viral encephalitis occurring epidemically, such as in Japanese B encephalitis, St. Louis encephalitis, and lethargic encephalitis. (05 Mar 2000) |
| epidemic exanthema | A mild febrile illness of humans in Australia characterised by polyarthralgia and rash, caused by the Ross River virus, a member of the family Togaviridae, and transmitted by mosquitoes. Synonym: epidemic exanthema, Murray Valley rash, Ross River fever. (05 Mar 2000) |
| epidemic fadeout | <epidemiology> Parasite extinction occurring because numbers are so low immediately following an epidemic that it is possible for small stochastic fluctuations to remove all parasites. Contrast endemic fadeout. (05 Dec 1998) |
| epidemic gangrenous proctitis | A generally fatal disease affecting chiefly children in the tropics, characterised by gangrenous ulceration of the rectum and anus, accompanied by frequent watery stools and tenesmus. Synonym: bicho, caribi, Indian sickness. (05 Mar 2000) |
| epidemic haemoglobinuria | The presence of haemoglobin, or of pigments derived from it, in the urine of young infants, attended with cyanosis, jaundice, and other conditions; may be due to secondary methemoglobinaemia; also called Winckel's disease. (05 Mar 2000) |
| epidemic haemorrhagic fever | A condition characterised by acute onset of headache, chills and high fever, sweating, thirst, photophobia, coryza, cough, myalgia, arthralgia, and abdominal pain with nausea and vomiting; this phase lasts from three to six days and is followed by capillary and renal interstitial haemorrhages, oedema, oliguria, azotemia, and shock; most varieties are caused by arboviruses (togaviruses, arenaviruses, flaviviruses, and bunyaviruses), and are rodent-borne. Synonym: haemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome, Songo fever. (05 Mar 2000) |
| epidemic hepatitis | A virus disease with a short incubation period (usually 15 to 50 days), caused by hepatitis A virus, a member of the family Picornaviridae, often transmitted by faecal-oral route; may be inapparent, mild, severe, or occasionally fatal and occurs sporadically or in epidemics, commonly in school-age children and young adults; necrosis of periportal liver cells with lymphocytic and plasma cell infiltration is characteristic and jaundice is a common symptom. Synonym: epidemic hepatitis, hepatitis A, infectious hepatitis, MS-1 hepatitis, short incubation hepatitis, virus A hepatitis. (05 Mar 2000) |
| epidemic hiccup | A persistent hiccup occurring as a complication of influenza. (05 Mar 2000) |
| epidemic hysteria | Spontaneous, en masse development of identical physical and/or emotional symptoms among a group of individuals, as seen in a classroom of schoolchildren, a socially contagious frenzy of irrational behaviour in a group of people as a reaction to an event. Synonym: epidemic hysteria. (05 Mar 2000) |
| epidemic myalgia | An acute infectious disease usually occurring in epidemic form, characterised by paroxysms of pain, usually in the chest, and associated with strains of Enterovirus coxsackievirus type B. Synonym: benign dry pleurisy, Bornholm disease, Daae's disease, devil's grip, diaphragmatic pleurisy, epidemic benign dry pleurisy, epidemic diaphragmatic pleurisy, epidemic myalgia, epidemic myositis, myositis epidemica acuta, epidemic transient diaphragmatic spasm, Sylvest's disease. (05 Mar 2000) |