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disease

(Encyclopedia)disease, impairment of the normal state or functioning of the body as a whole or of any of its parts. Some diseases are acute, producing severe symptoms that terminate after a short time, e.g., pneumo...

aneurysm

(Encyclopedia)aneurysm ănˈyo͝orĭzəm [key], localized dilatation of a blood vessel, particularly an artery, or the heart. Dilatation of an artery, and therefore weakness of that portion of the arterial wall, ma...

infarction

(Encyclopedia)infarction, blockage of blood circulation to a localized area or organ of the body resulting in tissue death. Infarctions commonly occur in the spleen, kidney, lungs, brain, and heart. The acute emerg...

Crohn's disease

(Encyclopedia)Crohn's disease: see colitis.

Cushing's disease

(Encyclopedia)Cushing's disease: see Cushing, Harvey Williams. ...

collagen disease

(Encyclopedia)collagen disease: see autoimmune disease; collagen. ...

Chagas' disease

(Encyclopedia)Chagas' disease, disease of South and Central America caused by the parasite Trypanosoma cruzi. It usually affects children and young adults and is transmitted by the feces of infected insects, typica...

Alzheimer's disease

(Encyclopedia)Alzheimer's disease ălsˈhīˌmərz, ôls– [key], degenerative disease of nerve cells in the cerebral cortex that leads to atrophy of the brain and senile dementia and, ultimately, death. The disea...

fifth disease

(Encyclopedia)fifth disease: see parvovirus.

Huntington's disease

(Encyclopedia)Huntington's disease, hereditary, acute disturbance of the central nervous system usually beginning in middle age and characterized by involuntary muscular movements and progressive intellectual deter...