Bacterial: Of or pertaining to bacteria. For example, a bacterial lung infection.
Biosafety: The application of knowledge, techniques and equipment to prevent personal, laboratory and environmental exposure to potentially infectious agents or biohazards. Biosafety defines the containment conditions under which infectious agents can be safely manipulated. The objective of containment is to confine biohazards and to reduce the potential exposure of the laboratory worker, persons outside of the laboratory, and the environment to potentially infectious agents.
Biosafety level: A specific combination of work practices, safety equipment, and facilities which are designed to minimize the exposure of workers and the environment to infectious agents.
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BSL-4: Biosafety level 4. The highest level of biosafety. This level is used for the diagnosis of exotic agents such as the Ebola virus that pose a high risk of life-threatening disease, which may be transmitted by the aerosol route and for which there is no vaccine or therapy.
CDC: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention , the US agency charged with tracking and investigating public health trends. The stated mission of the CDC is "To promote health and quality of life by preventing and controlling disease, injury, and disability." The CDC is a part of the U.S. Public Health Services (PHS) under the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
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Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: The US agency charged with tracking and investigating public health trends. The stated mission of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, commonly called the CDC, is "To promote health and quality of life by preventing and controlling disease, injury, and disability."
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Coma: A state of deep unarousable unconsciousness.
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Cotton rat: A rodent capable of carrying the types of hantavirus that cause HPS (hantavirus pulmonary syndrome) in the US. The cotton rate is found in the southeastern US and Central and South America. Its head and body measure about 5 to 7 inches with another 3 to 4 inches for the tail. The hair is longer and coarser, of a grayish brown color, even grayish black. The cotton rat prefers overgrown areas with shrubs and tall grasses. Scientific name: Sigmodon hispidus.
Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever : A viral disease characterized by hemorrhage (bleeding) and fever.
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Cure: 1. To heal, to make well, to restore to good health. Cures are easy to claim and, all too often, difficult to confirm.
2. A time without recurrence of a disease so that the risk of recurrence is small, as in the 5-year cure rate for malignant melanoma .
3. Particularly in the past, a course of treatment. For example, take a cure at a spa.
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Deer mouse: A deceptively cute rodent capable of carrying the types of hantavirus that cause HPS (hantavirus pulmonary syndrome) in the US. The deer mouse has big eyes and big ears. Its head and body are normally about 2 to 3 inches long, and the tail adds another 2 to 3 inches in length. It occurs in a variety of colors, from gray to reddish brown, depending on its age. The underbelly is always white and the tail has sharply defined white sides. The deer mouse is found almost everywhere in North America. Usually, the deer mouse likes woodlands, but also turns up in desert areas. Scientific name: Peromyscus maniculatus.
Delirium: A sudden state of severe confusion and rapid changes in brain function, sometimes associated with hallucinations and hyperactivity , in which the patient is inaccessible to normal contact. Symptoms may include inability to concentrate and disorganized thinking evidenced by rambling, irrelevant, or incoherent speech. There may be a reduced level of consciousness, sensory misperceptions and illusions, disturbances of sleep, drowsiness, disorientation to time, place, or person, and problems with memory.
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Dengue: Also known as Dengue fever, an acute mosquito-borne viral illness of sudden onset that usually follows a benign course with headache, fever, prostration, severe joint and muscle pain, swollen glands (lymphadenopathy) and rash. The presence (the "dengue triad") of fever, rash, and headache (and other pains) is particularly characteristic of dengue. Dengue is endemic throughout the tropics and subtropics. It goes by other names including breakbone or dandy fever. Victims of dengue often have contortions due to the intense joint and muscle pain. Hence, the name "breakbone fever." Slaves in the West Indies who contracted dengue were said to have "dandy fever" because of their postures and gait.
Diagnosis: 1 The nature of a disease ; the identification of an illness. 2 A conclusion or decision reached by diagnosis. The diagnosis is rabies . 3 The identification of any problem. The diagnosis was a plugged IV.
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Dizziness : Painless head discomfort with many possible causes including disturbances of vision, the brain, balance (vestibular) system of the inner ear, and gastrointestinal system. Dizziness is a medically indistinct term which laypersons use to describe a variety of conditions ranging from lightheadedness, unsteadiness to vertigo.
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Fatigue: A condition characterized by a lessened capacity for work and reduced efficiency of accomplishment, usually accompanied by a feeling of weariness and tiredness. Fatigue can be acute and come on suddenly or chronic and persist.
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Fecal: Relating to the feces , the stool . The excrement discharged from the intestines.
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Fever : Although a fever technically is any body temperature above the normal of 98.6 degrees F. (37 degrees C.), in practice a person is usually not considered to have a significant fever until the temperature is above 100.4 degrees F (38 degrees C.).
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Hantavirus: A group of viruses that cause hemorrhagic fever and pneumonia. The Hantaviruses include the Hantaan virus that causes Korean (and Manchurian) hemorrhagic fever. The Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome (HPS) struck the Four Corner area (where the States of Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, and Utah meet) in 1993 with devastating, frequently fatal consequences. Hantaviruses are transmitted to humans by contact direct or indirect with the saliva and excreta of rodents such as deer mice, field mice, and ground voles. The HPS outbreak in 1993 followed two years in which there was more rain, more foliage, and more deer mice than usual.
Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome: Abbreviated HPS. A disease that struck the Four Corners area (where the states of Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, and Utah meet) in 1993 with devastating, frequently fatal consequences. As the name indicates, it is due to a Hantavirus. Hantavirus transmission to humans is by contact direct or indirect with the saliva and excreta of rodents such as deer mice, field mice, and ground voles. The HPS outbreak in Four Corners followed two years in which there was more rain, more foliage, and more deer mice than usual.
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Hemorrhage: Bleeding or the abnormal flow of blood.
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Hemorrhagic: Pertaining to bleeding or the abnormal flow of blood.
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Hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome: A number of diseases, also known as hemorrhagic fever, characterized by an abrupt onset of high fever and chills, headache, cold and cough, and pain in the muscles, joints and abdomen with nausea and vomiting followed by bleeding into the kidney and elsewhere. Known also as hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome.
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HPS: 1. Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome.
2. Hermansky-Pudlak syndrome.
Infection: The growth of a parasitic organism within the body. (A parasitic organism is one that lives on or in another organism and draws its nourishment therefrom.) A person with an infection has another organism (a "germ") growing within him, drawing its nourishment from the person.
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Kidney: One of a pair of organs located in the right and left side of the abdomen which clear "poisons" from the blood, regulate acid concentration and maintain water balance in the body by excreting urine. The kidneys are part of the urinary tract. The urine then passes through connecting tubes called "ureters" into the bladder. The bladder stores the urine until it is released during urination.
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Laboratory: A place for doing tests and research procedures and preparing chemicals, etc. Although "laboratory" looks very like the Latin "laboratorium" (a place to labor, a work place), the word "laboratory" came from the Latin "elaborare" (to work out, as a problem, and with great pains), as evidenced by the Old English spelling "elaboratory" designating "a place where learned effort was applied to the solution of scientific problems."
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Lassa fever: An acute viral infection found in the tropics, especially in West Africa. Epidemics of Lassa fever have occurred in countries such as Sierra Leone, Congo (formerly Zaire), Liberia and Nigeria.
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Lipid: Another word for "fat." (Please see the various meanings of Fat .) A lipid is more formally defined as a substance such as a fat, oil or wax that dissolves in alcohol but not in water. Lipids contain carbon, hydrogen and oxygen but have far less oxygen proportionally than carbohydrates .
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Marburg virus: The virus that causes Marburg hemorrhagic fever, a disease which affects both humans and non-human primates. Caused by a genetically unique zoonotic (that is, animal-borne) RNA virus of the filovirus family, its recognition led to the creation of this virus family. The four species of Ebola virus are the only other known members of the filovirus family.
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Mouth: 1. The upper opening of the digestive tract, beginning with the lips and containing the teeth, gums, and tongue. Foodstuffs are broken down mechanically in the mouth by chewing and saliva is added as a lubricant. Saliva contains amylase, an enzyme that digests starch. 2. Any opening or aperture in the body. The mouth in both senses of the word is also called the os, the Latin word for an opening, or mouth. The o in os is pronounced as in hope. The genitive form of os is oris from which comes the word oral.
Muscle: Muscle is the tissue of the body which primarily functions as a source of power. There are three types of muscle in the body. Muscle which is responsible for moving extremities and external areas of the body is called "skeletal muscle." Heart muscle is called "cardiac muscle." Muscle that is in the walls of arteries and bowel is called "smooth muscle."
Nurse: 1) A person trained, licensed, or skilled in nursing. 2) To feed an infant at the breast.
Nursing: 1) Profession concerned with the provision of services essential to the maintenance and restoration of health by attending the needs of sick persons. 2) Feeding a infant at the breast.
Organ: A relatively independent part of the body that carries out one or more special functions. The organs of the human body include the eye, ear, heart, lungs, and liver.
Pathogenesis: The development of a disease. The origin of a disease and the chain of events leading to that disease.
Plasma: The liquid part of the blood and lymphatic fluid, which makes up about half of its volume. Plasma is devoid of cells and, unlike serum, has not clotted. Blood plasma contains antibodies and other proteins. It is taken from donors and made into medications for a variety of blood-related conditions. Some blood plasma is also used in non-medical products.
Public health: The approach to medicine that is concerned with the health of the community as a whole. Public health is community health. It has been said that: "Health care is vital to all of us some of the time, but public health is vital to all of us all of the time."
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Pulmonary: Having to do with the lungs. (The word comes from the Latin pulmo for lung).
Renal: Having to do with the kidney. From the Latin renes (the kidneys), which gave the French les reins which mean both the kidneys and the lower back.
Replication: A turning back, repetition, duplication, reproduction.
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Reservoir: 1. A place where something such as water is kept in reserve.
2. The part of a device in which something is kept in reserve or stored, as an Ommaya reservoir.
3. For an infectious agent, an animal, person, plant, soil, or other substance in which the agent normally abides. See: Reservoir of infection.
From the French reservoir, from reserver meaning to reserve.
RNA: Short for ribonucleic acid, a nucleic acid molecule similar to DNA but containing ribose rather than deoxyribose. RNA is formed upon a DNA template. There are several classes of RNA molecules.
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Saliva: a watery secretion in the mouth produced by the salivary glands that aids in the digestion of food. Saliva also serves to moisten and cleanse the mouth, including the tongue and teeth, and contains substances that can play a role in the prevention of infection . Saliva aids digestion by moistening food and contains enzymes that begin the digestion process. Also known as spit.
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Scrub: 1. As a verb, to wash the hands and forearms very thoroughly, as before engaging in surgery. To scrub implies the use of a brush (and often an implement to clean under the nails). To scrub, to scrub in (on a surgical procedure), and to scrub up are synonymous.
2. As a noun, a person who scrubs, as for surgery.
3. As an adjective, pertaining to scrubbing in for surgery, as a scrub nurse or a scrub tech.
Scrub typhus: A mite-borne infectious disease caused by a microorganism, Rickettsia tsutsugamushi, characteristically with fever, headache, a raised (macular) rash, swollen glands (lymphadenopathy) and a dark crusted ulcer (called an eschar or tache noire) at the site of the chigger (mite larva) bite. This disease occurs in the area bounded by Japan, India, and Australia. Known also as Tsutsugamushi disease, mite-borne typhus, and tropical typhus.
Shock: In medicine, shock is a critical condition brought on by a sudden drop in blood flow through the body. There is failure of the circulatory system to maintain adequate blood flow. This sharply curtails the delivery of oxygen and nutrients to vital organs. It also compromises the kidney and so curtails the removal of wastes from the body. Shock can be due to a number of different mechanisms including not enough blood volume (hypovolemic shock) and not enough output of blood by the heart (cardiogenic shock). The signs and symptoms of shock include low blood pressure (hypotension), overbreathing (hyperventilation), a weak rapid pulse, cold clammy grayish-bluish (cyanotic) skin, decreased urine flow (oliguria), and mental changes (a sense of great anxiety and foreboding, confusion and, sometimes, combativeness).
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Syndrome: A set of signs and symptoms that tend to occur together and which reflect the presence of a particular disease or an increased chance of developing a particular disease.
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Therapy: The treatment of disease .
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Tick: A small wingless bloodsucking insect that, along with the mite, belongs to the order Acarina. Ticks may be found in tall grass, where they may attach to a passing animal or person. Pulling a tick forcefully out from under the skin may leave the head behind. Ticks can transmit diseases such as Lyme disease, Rocky Mountain spotted fever, tularemia, equine encephalitis, ehrlichiosis, babesiosis, and (in animals only) anaplasmosis.
Typhus: One of a group of acute infections caused by rickettsiae, transmitted by arthropods (lice, fleas, mites), and characterized by severe headache, chills, high fever, stupor, and a rash. The four main entities making up the group are epidemic typhus, its recrudescent form (Brill-Zinsser disease), murine typhus, and scrub typhus. Called also typhus fever. See also: Brill-Zinsser disease; Epidemic typhus; Murine typhus; Scrub typhus.
Urine: Liquid waste. The urine is a clear, transparent fluid. It normally has an amber color. The average amount of urine excreted in 24 hours is from 40 to 60 ounces (about 1,200 cubic centimeters). Chemically, the urine is mainly an aqueous (watery) solution of salt (sodium chloride) and substances called urea and uric acid. Normally, it contains about 960 parts of water to 40 parts of solid matter. Abnormally, it may contain sugar (in diabetes), albumen (a protein) (as in some forms of kidney disease), bile pigments (as in jaundice), or abnormal quantities of one or another of its normal components.
Vaccines: Microbial preparations of killed or modified microorganisms that can stimulate an immune response in the body to prevent future infection with similar microorganisms. These preparations are usually delivered by injection.
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Vascular: Relating to the blood vessels of the body. The blood vessels of the body, as a group, are referred to as the vascular system.
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Vector: In medicine, a vector is a carrier. The best way to understand a vector is to recall its origin as a word. Vector is the Latin word for a "bearer."
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Viral: Of or pertaining to a virus. For example, "My daughter has a viral rash ."
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Viral hemorrhagic fever: A syndrome caused by infection with one of a number of viruses that can cause increased permeability of the blood vessels resulting in bleeding into the skin, internally, or from the mouth or other orifices. The bleeding is usually not life-threatening. Other signs and symptoms of viral hemorrhagic fever (VHF) may also include high fever, weakness, dizziness, and myalgia . In severe cases, there may be shock, coma, delirium , seizures , and death.
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Virus: A microorganism smaller than a bacteria, which cannot grow or reproduce apart from a living cell. A virus invades living cells and uses their chemical machinery to keep itself alive and to replicate itself. It may reproduce with fidelity or with errors (mutations)-this ability to mutate is responsible for the ability of some viruses to change slightly in each infected person, making treatment more difficult.
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Viruses: Small living particles that can infect cells and change how the cells function. Infection with a virus can cause a person to develop symptoms. The disease and symptoms that are caused depend on the type of virus and the type of cells that are infected.
World Health Organization: An agency of the United Nations established in 1948 to further international cooperation in improving health conditions. Although the World Health Organization inherited specific tasks relating to epidemic control, quarantine measures, and drug standardization from the Health Organization of the League of Nations (that was set up in 1923) and from the International Office of Public Health at Paris (established in 1909), the World Health Organization was given a broad mandate under its constitution to promote the attainment of "the highest possible level of health" by all people. WHO defines health positively as "a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity."
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Yellow fever: An acute systemic (bodywide) illness caused by a virus called a Flavivirus . In severe cases, the viral infection causes a high fever, bleeding into the skin, and necrosis (death) of cells in the kidney and liver. The damage done to the liver from the virus results in severe jaundice which yellows the skin. Hence, the "yellow" in "yellow fever."
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Zoonotic: Pertaining to a zoonosis : a disease that can be transmitted from animals to people or, more specifically, a disease that normally exists in animals but that can infect humans. There are multitudes of zoonotic diseases.
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- Kidney Failure - Learn about kidney failure, in which the body has fluid retention, risen blood pressure, toxin build up and lack of red blood cells. Symptoms include fatigue, nausea, and apetite loss.
- Dengue Fever - Get the facts on dengue fever causes (virus transmitted by infected mosquito), symptoms, signs, treatment, statistics and information on dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF).
- Fever - Get the facts on fever treatment (in children and adults). Learn ways to bring down a high fever and know the signs of other serious types of major illness.
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