Lexic.us

Definition of Assam fever

1. Noun. Leishmaniasis of the viscera.

Medical Definition of Assam fever

1. A chronic disease, occurring in India, Assam, China, the area formerly known as the Mediterranean littoral areas, the Middle East, India, Pakistan, China, South and Central America, Asia, Africa caused by Leishmania donovani and transmitted by the bite of an appropriate species of sandfly of the genus Phlebotomus or Lutzomyia; the organisms grow and multiply in macrophages, eventually causing them to burst and liberate amastigote parasites which then invade other macrophages; proliferation of macrophages in the bone marrow causes crowding out of erythroid and myeloid elements, resulting in leukopenia, and anaemia, splenomegaly, and hepatomegaly which are characteristic, along with enlargement of lymph nodes; fever, fatigue, malaise, and secondary infections also occur; different strains of leishmaniasis donovani occur; leishmaniasis infantum in Eurasia, leishmaniasis chagasi in Latin America. Synonym: Assam fever, black sickness, Burdwan fever, cachectic fever, Dumdum fever, kala azar, tropical splenomegaly. (05 Mar 2000)

Lexicographical Neighbors of Assam Fever

Literary usage of Assam fever

Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:

1. The Mishmee Hills: An Account of a Journey Made in an Attempt to Penetrate by Thomas Thornville Cooper (1873)
"... hills before the rain set in, so as to escape that most tiresome of diseases, assam fever, so prevalent in the plains during the summer months. ..."

2. The Retrospect of Practical Medicine and Surgery: Being a Half-yearly edited by William Braithwaite, James Braithwaite, Edmond Fauriel Trevelyan (1871)
"... all tho depressant characteristics in an intense degree of the assam fever—a fever which had hitherto been looked upon by Indian practitioners as the ..."

3. The Retrospect of Medicine by William Braithwaite (1871)
"... all the depressant characteristics in an intense degree of the assam fever—a fever which had hitherto been looked upon by Indian practitioners as the ..."

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