Definition

Noun: A specific, mild viral illness primarily affecting infants and young children. It is characterized by a sudden onset of high fever, often with mild respiratory symptoms, followed by the appearance of a distinctive rash as the fever subsides.

Usage

This is a medical term used by healthcare professionals. It is typically used in clinical settings to diagnose and describe this particular childhood illness. It is not commonly used in everyday conversation.

Examples

• The pediatrician diagnosed the baby's symptoms as exanthema subitum.
• Exanthema subitum is also commonly known as roseola or sixth disease.
• The key feature of exanthema subitum is the rash that appears after the fever breaks.

Advanced Usage

• The term is often used in differential diagnosis to distinguish this condition from other common childhood illnesses that cause fever and rash, such as measles or scarlet fever.

Variants and Related Words

• Roseola (n): The most common synonym for exanthema subitum in general English.
• Roseola infantum (n): Another medical term for the same condition.
• Sixth disease (n): A historical name for the illness, based on its numerical order in a traditional list of childhood rash-causing diseases.
• HHV-6/HHV-7 (n): Human herpesvirus 6 and 7, the viruses that cause exanthema subitum.

Synonyms

• Roseola
• Roseola infantum
• Sixth disease

Related Phrases

• "A classic case of roseola": A phrase a doctor might use to describe the typical presentation of exanthema subitum.
• "Post-febrile rash": A descriptive phrase for the rash that follows the fever, which is the hallmark of this illness.

Noun

1. a viral disease of infants and young children; characterized by abrupt high fever and mild sore throat; a few days later there is a faint pinkish rash that lasts for a few hours to a few days