ENCEPHALITIS (encephalitides)

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

Irregular inflected form: encephalitides   

 Dictionary entry overview: What does encephalitis mean? 

• ENCEPHALITIS (noun)
  The noun ENCEPHALITIS has 1 sense:

1. inflammation of the brain usually caused by a virus; symptoms include headache and neck pain and drowsiness and nausea and fever ('phrenitis' is no longer in scientific use)

  Familiarity information: ENCEPHALITIS used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• ENCEPHALITIS (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Inflammation of the brain usually caused by a virus; symptoms include headache and neck pain and drowsiness and nausea and fever ('phrenitis' is no longer in scientific use)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Synonyms:

cephalitis; encephalitis; phrenitis

Hypernyms ("encephalitis" is a kind of...):

inflammation; redness; rubor (a response of body tissues to injury or irritation; characterized by pain and swelling and redness and heat)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "encephalitis"):

acute hemorrhagic encephalitis (encephalitis that resembles apoplexy due to blood extravasation)

equine encephalitis; equine encephalomyelitis (encephalitis caused by a virus that is transmitted by a mosquito from an infected horse)

acute inclusion body encephalitis; herpes encephalitis; herpes simplex encephalitis (common form of acute encephalitis caused by herpes simplex 1; usually affects the temporal and frontal lobes)

leukoencephalitis (inflammation of the white matter of the brain)

cerebromeningitis; encephalomeningitis; meningoencephalitis (inflammation of the brain and spinal cord and their meninges)

panencephalitis (diffuse inflammation of the entire brain)

encephalitis lethargica; epidemic encephalitis; lethargic encephalitis; sleeping sickness; sleepy sickness (an encephalitis that was epidemic between 1915 and 1926; symptoms include paralysis of the extrinsic eye muscle and extreme muscular weakness)

West Nile encephalitis (encephalitis caused by the West Nile virus; can be fatal in humans and horses and birds)

 Context examples 

It is spread by rodents and causes meningitis and encephalitis.

(Lymphocytic Choriomeningitis Virus, NCI Thesaurus)

A mosquito-borne encephalitis caused by the Japanese B encephalitis virus (ENCEPHALITIS VIRUS, JAPANESE) occurring throughout Eastern Asia and Australia.

(Japanese B Encephalitis, NLM, Medical Subject Headings)

Viral encephalitis caused by the mosquito-born Japanese encephalitis virus.

(Japanese B Encephalitis, NCI Thesaurus)

Etiologic agent of measles and certain forms of encephalitis.

(Measles virus, NIH CRISP Thesaurus)

Nipah viruses cause respiratory diseases, relapse and fatal encephalitis in humans.

(Nipah Virus, NCI Thesaurus)

Orthobunyaviruses are mostly transmitted by gnats and cause encephalitis in humans.

(Orthobunyavirus, NCI Thesaurus)

This can be a paraneoplastic syndrome (a result of brain metastasis) or post-infectious (viral encephalitis).

(Opsoclonus Myoclonus Syndrome, NCI Thesaurus)

The infection may affect the central nervous system causing encephalitis.

(Epidemic Louse-Borne Typhus, NCI Thesaurus)

Hendra viruses cause respiratory diseases, meningitis and fatal encephalitis in humans.

(Hendra Virus, NCI Thesaurus)

Encephalitis is an inflammation of the brain.

(Encephalitis, NIH: National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke)