Adjacent Words

cholera definitions

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WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: an acute intestinal infection caused by ingestion of contaminated water or food [syn: cholera, Asiatic cholera, Indian cholera, epidemic cholera]

Merriam Webster's

noun Etymology: Latin Date: 1601 any of several diseases of humans and domestic animals usually marked by severe gastrointestinal symptoms; especially an acute diarrheal disease caused by an enterotoxin produced by a comma-shaped gram-negative bacillus (Vibrio cholerae syn. V. comma) when it is present in large numbers in the proximal part of the human small intestine

Britannica Concise

Acute bacterial infection with Vibrio cholerae, causing massive diarrhea with severe depletion of body fluids and salts. It often occurs in epidemics, spreading in contaminated water or food. The bacteria secrete a toxin that causes the diarrhea, which along with vomiting leads to dehydration, with severe muscle cramps and intense thirst. Stupor and coma may precede death by shock. With fluid and salt replacement, the disease passes in two to seven days, less if antibiotics are taken the first day. Prevention requires good sanitation, especially clean drinking water.

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. Med. an infectious and often fatal disease of the small intestine caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae, resulting in severe vomiting and diarrhoea. Phrases and idioms: chicken (or fowl) cholera an infectious disease of fowls. Derivatives: choleraic adj. Etymology: ME f. L f. Gk kholera: see CHOLER

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Cholera Chol"er*a, n. [L., a bilious disease. See Choler.] (Med.) One of several diseases affecting the digestive and intestinal tract and more or less dangerous to life, esp. the one commonly called Asiatic cholera. Asiatic cholera, a malignant and rapidly fatal disease, originating in Asia and frequently epidemic in the more filthy sections of other lands, to which the germ or specific poison may have been carried. It is characterized by diarrhea, rice-water evacuations, vomiting, cramps, pinched expression, and lividity, rapidly passing into a state of collapse, followed by death, or by a stage of reaction of fever. Cholera bacillus. See Comma bacillus. Cholera infantum, a dangerous summer disease, of infants, caused by hot weather, bad air, or poor milk, and especially fatal in large cities. Cholera morbus, a disease characterized by vomiting and purging, with gripings and cramps, usually caused by imprudence in diet or by gastrointestinal disturbance. Chicken cholera. See under Chicken. Hog cholera. See under Hog. Sporadic cholera, a disease somewhat resembling the Asiatic cholera, but originating where it occurs, and rarely becoming epidemic.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

Cholera is a serious disease that often kills people. It is caused by drinking infected water or by eating infected food. ...a cholera epidemic.

Moby Thesaurus

African lethargy, Asiatic cholera, Chagres fever, German measles, Haverhill fever, acute articular rheumatism, ague, alkali disease, amebiasis, amebic dysentery, anthrax, bacillary dysentery, bastard measles, black death, black fever, blackwater fever, breakbone fever, brucellosis, bubonic plague, cachectic fever, cerebral rheumatism, chicken pox, cowpox, dandy fever, deer fly fever, dengue, dengue fever, diphtheria, dumdum fever, dysentery, elephantiasis, encephalitis lethargica, enteric fever, erysipelas, famine fever, five-day fever, flu, frambesia, glandular fever, grippe, hansenosis, hepatitis, herpes, herpes simplex, herpes zoster, histoplasmosis, hookworm, hydrophobia, infantile paralysis, infectious mononucleosis, inflammatory rheumatism, influenza, jail fever, jungle rot, kala azar, kissing disease, lepra, leprosy, leptospirosis, loa loa, loaiasis, lockjaw, madness, malaria, malarial fever, marsh fever, measles, meningitis, milzbrand, mumps, ornithosis, osteomyelitis, paratyphoid fever, parotitis, parrot fever, pertussis, pneumonia, polio, poliomyelitis, polyarthritis rheumatism, ponos, psittacosis, rabbit fever, rabies, rat-bite fever, relapsing fever, rheumatic fever, rickettsialpox, ringworm, rubella, rubeola, scarlatina, scarlet fever, schistosomiasis, septic sore throat, shingles, sleeping sickness, sleepy sickness, smallpox, snail fever, splenic fever, spotted fever, strep throat, swamp fever, tetanus, thrush, tinea, trench fever, trench mouth, tuberculosis, tularemia, typhoid, typhoid fever, typhus, typhus fever, undulant fever, vaccinia, varicella, variola, venereal disease, viral dysentery, whooping cough, yaws, yellow fever, yellow jack, zona, zoster