shigellosis
Noun: 1. An acute bacterial infection of the intestinal tract: Shigellosis is a medical condition resulting from infection by bacteria of the genus Shigella. It primarily affects the intestines and is marked by specific clinical symptoms.
The word "shigellosis" is used exclusively as a medical term. It refers to the disease state itself, not the bacteria that cause it (which are called Shigella). It is typically used in clinical, public health, and scientific contexts. * Proper noun usage: "Shigellosis" is often treated as a proper noun and is not usually pluralized (e.g., "an outbreak of shigellosis"). * Context: It appears in discussions of disease outbreaks, patient diagnoses, symptoms, and treatment protocols.
- The community experienced an outbreak of shigellosis after the water supply was contaminated.
- The primary symptoms of shigellosis include severe diarrhea, fever, and stomach cramps.
- Public health officials are working to contain the spread of shigellosis in the daycare center.
- A diagnosis of shigellosis is confirmed through laboratory testing of a stool sample.
- Adjectival Form: While "shigellosis" is a noun, the related adjective "shigellal" is sometimes used in technical medical literature (e.g., "shigellal infection"). However, the phrase "Shigella infection" is far more common.
- Epidemiology: In public health, the term is used to classify and track reportable diseases. For example: "Shigellosis is a nationally notifiable disease in many countries."
- Bacillary Dysentery: This is a direct synonym and an older, more general term for the same disease. "Shigellosis" is the more precise, modern term specifying the bacterial cause.
- Shigella (noun): The genus name for the bacteria that cause shigellosis. Example: "The sample tested positive for ."
- Shigellal (adjective): Pertaining to or caused by bacteria. (Technical/medical use).
- Bacillary dysentery
"Shigellosis" has only one specific meaning in modern English: the infectious disease caused by Shigella bacteria. It does not have informal, idiomatic, or alternative definitions.
- an acute infection of the intestine by shigella bacteria; characterized by diarrhea and fever and abdominal pains