Kenya fever
- noun
- Specialized
:
fiebre de Kenia
- After traveling with his dog in rural India, he was diagnosed with Kenya fever.
Examples
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Kenya fever is most commonly transmitted through the bite of an infected tick.
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Doctors in the Mediterranean region are trained to recognize the symptoms of Kenya fever.
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Many travelers to India should be aware of Kenya fever.
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Have you heard about Kenya fever?
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Kenya fever is a serious illness caused by bacteria spread by ticks found on dogs.
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Travelers to areas where ticks are common should be cautious of Kenya fever.
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She became ill after being bitten by a tick and was diagnosed with Kenya fever.
Synonyms
A disease caused by tiny germs that spreads to people from reddish-brown ticks on dogs and other animals
A disease that spreads to people from ticks that live on dogs near the Mediterranean
A disease spread by tick bites that causes fever and a spotted rash
Surface Forms
Morphology
The compound 'Kenya fever' transparently signals a febrile illness because it combines a place-name with 'fever', so a B1 learner knowing both words would infer it is a disease that causes fever and is linked to a location. However, the specific etiology (rickettsia, tick-borne) and the surprising geographic distribution (mainly India and the Mediterranean rather than Kenya) are not derivable from the parts, and the place-name can be misleading, so full meaning is not predictable.
Etymology
Kenya fever probably gets its name from early cases linked to Kenya, so it creates the simple image of a traveller with a fever after a reddish-brown tick bite. That's why 'Kenya fever' now means the illness spread by ticks that live on dogs and other animals.
