Lexic.us

Definition of Influenza

1. Noun. An acute febrile highly contagious viral disease.

Definition of Influenza

1. n. An epidemic affection characterized by acute nasal catarrh, or by inflammation of the throat or the bronchi, and usually accompanied by fever.

Definition of Influenza

1. Noun. (pathology) An acute contagious disease of the upper airways and lungs, caused by a virus, which rapidly spreads around the world in seasonal epidemics. ¹

¹ Source: wiktionary.com

Definition of Influenza

1. [n -S]

Medical Definition of Influenza

1. An acute viral infection involving the respiratory tract, occurring in isolated cases, in epidemics or in pandemics striking many continents simultaneously or in sequence. It is marked by inflammation of the nasal mucosa, the pharynx and conjunctiva and by headache and severe, often generalised myalgia. Fever, chills and prostration are common. Involvement of the myocardium and of the central nervous system occur infrequently. A necrotising bronchitis and interstitial pneumonia are prominent features of severe influenza and account for the susceptibility of patients to secondary bacterial pneumonia due to Streptococcus pneumoniae, Haemophilus influenzae and Staphylococcus aureus. The incubation period is one to three days and the disease ordinarily lasts for three to ten days. Influenza is caused by a number of serologically distinct strains of virus, designated A (with many subgroups), B and C. Synonym: flu, grippe. This entry appears with permission from the Dictionary of Cell and Molecular Biology (11 Mar 2008)

Lexicographical Neighbors of Influenza

Literary usage of Influenza

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

1. The American Journal of the Medical Sciences by Southern Society for Clinical Investigation (U.S.) (1849)
"Thus far influenza and cholera agree; but a first difference between them is, that while cholera seems to radiate from towns to the adjacent country, as if, ..."

2. Public Affairs Information Service Bulletin by Public Affairs Information Service (1920)
"Studies of influenza in hospitals of the British armies in France, 1918. ... 36) 112p 11 tables charts *3s 6d '19 HM stationery office influenza: prevalence ..."

3. Proceedings by Philadelphia County Medical Society (1896)
"During the recent epidemics of influenza, the first of which occurred in the latter part of 1889, I observed cases of influenza that apparently developed ..."

4. The ABCs of Safe & Healthy Child Care: A Handbook for Child Care Providers by Cynthia M. Hale, Jacqueline A. Polder (2000)
"influenza in the Child Care Setting influenza (sometimes called "the flu") is a ... The influenza virus is usually passed when an infected person coughs or ..."

5. Readers' Guide to Periodical Literature by Anna Lorraine Guthrie, Marion A. Knight, H.W. Wilson Company, Estella E. Painter (1920)
"Distribution of influenza by direct contact— Munie R 7:187-9 Mr '18 Ingham, ... C: Lynch and .la '19 1890 epidemic of influenza in Chicago and Its influence ..."

6. The Journal of Experimental Medicine by Rockefeller University, Rockefeller Institute, Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research (1920)
"The observation has frequently been made that influenza, as it occurs in man, ... Further confusion is added to the pathology of influenza by reason of the ..."

7. The Contemporary Review (1892)
"According to Tessier, influenza grows on Russian soil, and when not actually raging, it is at least always smouldering there. He traces the origin of the ..."

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