Definitions

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

  • adjective Occurring at the same time as and usually altering the course of another disease.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Running between or among; occurring between; intervening.
  • Specifically, in pathology, occurring in a patient already suffering from some disease: said of a second disease.
  • noun Something that intervenes; an intercurrence; an incident.
  • Noting a pulse in which there is an occasional supernumerary beat.

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

  • noun Something intervening.
  • adjective Running between or among; intervening.
  • adjective Not belonging to any particular season.
  • adjective Said of diseases occurring in the course of another disease.

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

  • adjective medicine, of a disease or condition Simultaneous; occurring at the same time as, or during the period of, another condition.
  • noun Something intervening.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Latin intercurrēns, intercurrent-, present participle of intercurrere, to mingle with; see intercourse.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

inter- +‎ current

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Examples

  • “It moves on to involve the physician in pain management, symptom relief, treatment of other “intercurrent” diseases (such as depressive disorder) that may arise during the first disease, and judicious management of the use of pertinent technology and control of unnecessary or futile interventions.”

    Dr. Sharma’s Obesity Notes » Blog Archive » Caregiving in Bariatric Medicine 2009

  • This could easily have been an intercurrent infection (something that incidentally David Kirby seems to accept), but it was decided on the balance of probabilities that vaccines may have been the trigger in her case.

    On Thursday, the Legg report will be published along with... 2008

  • As physical stress increases the body's needs for many vitamins and minerals, intercurrent infections also induce a relative nutrient deficiency, especially in chronic (long-term) grumbling types of infection e.g. acute cystitis, vaginal bacterial imbalance.

    Miscarriage 2007

  • "He's likely to die of an intercurrent infection."

    Asimov's Science Fiction 2004

  • Phos. is useful as an intercurrent remedy and during convalescence.

    Gentle Healing for Baby and Child Andrea Candee 2000

  • In the first case, larvae will not develop further until there is a relaxation in immunity such as may occur during periods of nutritional stress, intercurrent infection or in late pregnancy.

    Chapter 5 1999

  • The physician's attitude in this relation signifies how dependent most neoplastic changes are on intercurrent, episodic initiation.

    Peyton Rous - Nobel Lecture 1972

  • Neoplasms occasionally get smaller for one intercurrent reason or another, and often they are forced to disappear when subjected to strong irradiation.

    Peyton Rous - Nobel Lecture 1972

  • In the diabetic, infections such as boils and carbuncles, and also intercurrent infections such as bronchitis, influenza, and fevers are favorably influenced by the normal blood sugar and increased metabolism which the administration of insulin permits.

    Frederick G. Banting - Nobel Lecture 1965

  • This fatal issue, even in the more chronic cases, is often due to intercurrent causes, e.g. physical strain, or diseases such as malaria, dysentery, etc.

    Christiaan Eijkman - Nobel Lecture 1965

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