tuberculosis

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• noun An infectious disease of humans and animals caused by the tubercle bacillus and characterized by the formation of tubercles on the lungs and other tissues of the body, often developing long after the initial infection.
• noun Tuberculosis of the lungs, characterized by the coughing up of mucus and sputum, fever, weight loss, and chest pain.

from The Century Dictionary.

• noun It is a specific infectious disease, usually chronic in course. Any organ or tissue of the body may be the seat of the disease, but in the adult the lungs are the most frequently attacked. This form (pulmonary tuberculosis or consumption) is marked by emaciation, cough and expectoration, fever of a hectic character, rapid pulse, night sweats, and sometimes the expectoration of blood. The larynx may also he involved, in which case hoarseness or loss of voice and pain on swallowing are added symptoms. In children tuberculosis frequently invades the lymphatic glands of the neck, the spine' (constituting Pott's disease), or one or more of the joints, especially the hip or the knee. This form, being often amenable to treatment by mechanical or operative measures, is called surgical tuberculosis. Tuberculosis of the skin is known as lupus. In the treatment of pulmonary and other forms of tuberculosis, the main reliance is upon fresh air, the patient passing the greater part of the day in the open air and sleeping at night by an open window or actually out of doors, sheltered from rain or snow by an awning. A dry but dustless climate at an elevation of 1000 to 3000 feet is beneficial, but is not essential. Rest is an important factor in the treatment, especially when fever is present. The 'food should be of the most nourishing character, consisting largely of eggs and milk, and it is important that the diet should include a large amount of fat. To avoid the dissemination of infection, the sputum (which usually contains large numbers of the tubercle bacilli) should be received in a pasteboard box or paper napkin and immediately burned. Care should be taken also, when coughing, to hold a paper napkin before the mouth to catch the droplets of moisture which almost always contain the bacilli of the disease. The acute form of the disease is called miliary tuberculosis, which see, under tuberculosis.
• noun A specific disease affecting most of the tissues of the body, characterized by the formation of tubercles and the presence in the diseased parts of the tubercle-bacillus.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• noun (Med.) A constitutional disease caused by infection with Mycobacterium tuberculosis (also called the tubercle bacillus), characterized by the production of tubercles in the internal organs, and especially in the lungs, where it constitutes the most common variety of pulmonary phthisis (consumption). The Mycobacteria are slow-growing and without cell walls, and are thus not affected by the beta-lactam antibiotics; treatment is difficult, usually requiring simultaneous administration of multiple antibiotics to effect a cure. Prior to availability of antibiotic treatment, the cure required extensive rest, for which special sanatoriums were constructed.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• noun pathology An infectious disease of humans and animals caused by a species of mycobacterium mainly infecting the lungs where it causes tubercles characterized by the expectoration of mucus and sputum, fever, weight loss, and chest pain, and transmitted through inhalation or ingestion of bacteria.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• noun infection transmitted by inhalation or ingestion of tubercle bacilli and manifested in fever and small lesions (usually in the lungs but in various other parts of the body in acute stages)