tuberculosis
/tjuːˌbɜːkjʊˈləʊsɪs/ noun
Forms tuberculoses
- noun (pathology) An infectious disease of humans and animals caused by a species of mycobacterium, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis, mainly infecting the lungs where it causes tubercles characterized by the expectoration of mucus and sputum, fever, weight loss, and chest pain, and transmitted through inhalation or ingestion of bacteria.
Synonyms
consumption phthisic TB white death white man's plague white plague T.B.
Etymology
To international scientific vocabulary from New Latin tūberculōsis, from Latin tūberculum (diminutive of tūber (“lump”)) + Latin -ōsis (“diseased condition”); by surface analysis, tubercul(um) + -osis; named for the encapsulated colonies of Mycobacterium tuberculosis within the lungs in pulmonary tuberculosis, which can look like small tubers (tubercles) on gross pathology. The disease has existed throughout human experience and had other names for millennia before scientific medicine renamed it with a New Latin term in the mid-19th century (1840s); in English it was called consumption because of the wasting away that consumed health and seemed even to consume flesh in some cases (for example, causing fistulas and tissue breakdown).
Webster’s 1913
- noun A constitutional disease characterized by the production of tubercles in the internal organs, and especially in the lungs, where it constitutes the most common variety of pulmonary consumption.
Etymology [NL. See Tubercle.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “tuberculosis”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details