Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

157 results found

Alter, Harvey James

(Encyclopedia)Alter, Harvey James, 1935–, American virologist, b. New York City, M.D. Univ. of Rochester, 1960. He has been a researcher at the National Institutes of Health since 1969. The 2020 Nobel Prize in Ph...

pleurisy

(Encyclopedia)pleurisy plo͝orˈĭsē [key], inflammation of the pleura (the membrane that covers the lungs and lines the chest cavity). It is sometimes accompanied by pain and coughing. The inflammation may be dry...

thrips

(Encyclopedia)thrips, minute, agile insects of the order Thysanoptera. Thrips have piercing-and-sucking mouthparts and cup-shaped feet from which bladderlike adhesive organs may be extended. Some species are wingle...

trichomoniasis

(Encyclopedia)trichomoniasis trĭkˌəmənīˈəsĭs [key], sexually transmitted disease caused by the parasitic protozoan Trichomonas vaginalis. In women, it can cause urinary tract infection and a painful, malodo...

wart

(Encyclopedia)wart, circumscribed outgrowth of the skin caused by a filterable virus that is readily transmitted. Warts may appear anywhere on the skin but are most common on the hands. Sexually transmitted disease...

Weller, Thomas Huckle

(Encyclopedia)Weller, Thomas Huckle, 1915–2008, American microbiologist and physician, b. Ann Arbor, Mich., B.A. Univ. of Michigan, 1936, M.D. Harvard, 1940. In 1936 he began teaching at Harvard, and as a special...

Lwoff, André

(Encyclopedia)Lwoff, André äNdrāˈ ləwôfˈ [key], 1902–94, French microbiologist, b. Ainay-le-Château, Allier dept., central France, of Russian-Polish origin. He was educated in France and in 1925 began a l...

hand, foot, and mouth disease

(Encyclopedia)hand, foot, and mouth disease (HFMD), infectious viral disease that most commonly occurs in children under five years of age. Symptoms include fever, poor appetite, and a sore throat, followed by pain...

herpes zoster

(Encyclopedia)herpes zoster, infection of a ganglion (nerve center) with severe pain and a blisterlike eruption in the area of the nerve distribution, a condition called shingles. The causative organism is varicell...

protease inhibitor

(Encyclopedia)protease inhibitor prōˈtē-āsˌ [key], any of a class of drugs that interfere with replication of the AIDS virus (HIV), by blocking an enzyme (protease) necessary in the late stages of its reproduc...