tularemia
Meaning
a serious infectious disease of rodents, especially rabbits and hares, that is caused by a bacterium and can be transmitted to humans, causing fever and swollen lymph nodes.
Structure
Usage
the hunter contracted tularemia after handling an infected rabbit.
symptoms of tularemia can include sudden fever, chills, and headaches.
public health officials issued a warning about tularemia in the local rodent population.
Etymology
The word tularemia is a modern scientific coinage from the early 20th century. It combines 'tulare', the name of a county in california where the disease was first studied in rodents, with the Greek-derived suffix '-emia', which denotes a condition of the blood. The literal construction thus means 'tulare blood condition', reflecting the initial geographical association of the disease and its systemic, septicemic nature. This nomenclature follows a common pattern in medical terminology where a place name is fused with a pathological suffix to create a specific disease label.
Analysis
tulare (from tulare county, california, a toponym) + mia (from greek -aimia, meaning 'condition of the blood', a noun suffix).