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malaria

(Encyclopedia)malaria, infectious parasitic disease that can be either acute or chronic and is frequently recurrent. Malaria is common in Africa, Central and South America, the Mediterranean countries, Asia, and ma...

AIDS, in medicine

(Encyclopedia)AIDS or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, fatal disease caused by a rapidly mutating retrovirus that attacks the immune system and leaves the victim vulnerable to infections, malignancies, and neuro...

leukemia

(Encyclopedia)leukemia lo͞okēˈmēə [key], cancerous disorder of the blood-forming tissues (bone marrow, lymphatics, liver, spleen) characterized by excessive production of immature or mature leukocytes (white b...

Byron, George Gordon Noel Byron, 6th Baron

(Encyclopedia)Byron, George Gordon Noel Byron, 6th Baron bīˈrən [key], 1788–1824, English poet and satirist. Ranked with Shelley and Keats as one of the great Romantic poets, Byron became famous throughout E...

sexually transmitted disease

(Encyclopedia)sexually transmitted disease (STD) or venereal disease, term for infections acquired mainly through sexual contact. Five diseases were traditionally known as venereal diseases: gonorrhea, syphilis, an...

mystery

(Encyclopedia)mystery or mystery story, literary genre in which the cause (or causes) of a mysterious happening, often a crime, is gradually revealed by the hero or heroine; this is accomplished through a mixture o...

Douglas, Stephen Arnold

(Encyclopedia)Douglas, Stephen Arnold, 1813–61, American statesman, b. Brandon, Vt. The Democratic national convention at Charleston, S.C., in 1860 adopted Douglas's recommendations in a platform advocating non...

influenza

(Encyclopedia)influenza or flu, acute, highly contagious disease caused by a RNA virus (family Orthomyxoviridae); formerly known as the grippe. There are three types of the virus, designated A, B, and C, but only t...

tuberculosis

(Encyclopedia)tuberculosis (TB), contagious, wasting disease caused by any of several mycobacteria. The most common form of the disease is tuberculosis of the lungs (pulmonary consumption, or phthisis), but the int...

Alexander the Great

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Empire of Alexander the Great (including dependencies) Alexander the Great or Alexander III, 356–323 b.c., king of Macedon, conqueror of much of Asia. Whether or not Alexander had plans fo...