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caste

(Encyclopedia)caste [Port., casta=basket], ranked groups based on heredity within rigid systems of social stratification, especially those that constitute Hindu India. Some scholars, in fact, deny that true caste s...

Wexler, Nancy

(Encyclopedia)Wexler, Nancy, 1945–, American geneticist and neuropsychologist, b. Washington, D.C., Ph.D. Univ. of Michigan, 1974. After her mother was diagnosed with Huntington's disease in 1968, her father, the...

epidemic

(Encyclopedia)epidemic, outbreak of disease that affects a much greater number of people than is usual for the locality or that spreads to regions where it is ordinarily not present. A disease that tends to be rest...

Kawasaki, Tomisaku

(Encyclopedia)Kawasaki, Tomisaku, 1925–2020, Japanese pediatrician. He joined (1950–90) what is now the Japanese Red Cross Medical Center, Tokyo, and became director of pediatrics there in 1973. In 1961 he enco...

Rift Valley fever

(Encyclopedia)Rift Valley fever, acute viral disease that affects domestic livestock and can be transmitted to humans. The disease is most common in E and S Africa, but also occurs widely in sub-Saharan Africa and ...

southern tick-associated rash illness

(Encyclopedia)southern tick-associated rash illness (STARI) or Masters disease, illness characterized by a Lyme disease–like rash that is associated with bite from the Lone Star tick (Amblyomma americanum) rather...

classical swine fever

(Encyclopedia)classical swine fever or hog cholera, acute, highly infectious viral disease of swine, historically perhaps the most serious disease of swine in North America. It is characterized by dullness and list...

Bright, Richard

(Encyclopedia)Bright, Richard, 1789–1858, English physician. In London he was the leading consultant of his time, and he contributed many important clinical observations. He was the author of the significant Repo...

African swine fever

(Encyclopedia)African swine fever (ASF), highly contagious, deadly viral disease of swine. Its acute form, which is typically fatal, is characterized by high fever, loss of appetite, lethargy, and redness in the sk...

leprosy

(Encyclopedia)leprosy or Hansen's disease hănˈsənz [key], chronic, mildly infectious malady capable of producing, when untreated, various deformities and disfigurements. It is caused by the rod-shaped bacterium ...