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Glite Dictionary
West Nile encephalitis

West Nile encephalitis

5.2
An illness that makes the brain swell and can be deadly after West Nile virus infection
  • noun
  • /wɛst naɪl ɛnˌsɛfəˈlaɪtɪs/
  • Specialized
translation icon : encefalitis del Nilo Occidental
  • West Nile encephalitis can cause severe complications in some patients.

Examples

  • Yellow fever, dengue, malaria, and West Nile encephalitis are some of the diseases that have breached biogeographic barriers through anthropogenic movement (Lounibos 2002).

    Academic text (2009)

  • The health department reported a rise in cases of West Nile encephalitis following the summer rains.

  • Doctors warned that West Nile encephalitis could be particularly dangerous for the elderly.

Synonyms

encephalitis
vsWest Nile encephalitis
  • Specialized
16 8.6

A serious illness that makes the brain swell, often from a virus

is a specific viral type that can be fatal in several species
cephalitis
vsWest Nile encephalitis
  • Specialized
9.9

A swelling and irritation of the brain usually caused by a virus

refers to a particular viral form causing severe or fatal illness in multiple species

How Severe

encephalomyelitis
  • Specialized
1 9.9
West Nile encephalitis
  • Specialized
5.2

Surface Forms

West Nile encephalitis singular

Morphology

West + Nile + encephalitis

This is a compositional medical compound: 'encephalitis' means brain inflammation and 'West Nile' functions as a proper-name modifier indicating the specific cause/source (the West Nile virus). The pattern proper-name + disease is cross-linguistically common, so a B1 learner who knows the constituent meanings can infer it refers to encephalitis caused by West Nile.

Etymology

West Nile encephalitis comes from the West Nile area in Uganda where the virus was first found, and from the word encephalitis, which means 'brain inflammation'. So, the name refers to 'brain inflammation' caused by the West Nile virus.