pernicious anemia
1
5.7
- noun
- /pərˈnɪʃəs əˈniːmiə/
- Specialized
:
anemia perniciosa
- Doctors diagnosed her with pernicious anemia, a condition that prevents the body from absorbing enough vitamin B12.
- pernicious anemia and vitamin B12
Examples
-
Pernicious anaemia is an autoimmune condition, which results in antibodies being produced that attack and damage the parietal cells, causing cessation of intrinsic factor production.
Academic text (2012) -
Lack of vitamin B12 in people between the ages of fifty and sixty is linked to pernicious anemia.
Blog text (28) -
Pernicious anemia is often mistaken for cancer.
-
It was pernicious anemia, and she died a year later.
Fiction book (2002) -
It was only a matter of years before an almost bloodless nation began to die of pernicious anemia.
-
It was Epstein-Barr virus, pernicious anemia, or maybe just an attack of nerves.
Fiction book (1994) -
I can recite the six causes of pernicious anemia and the four stages of terminal cirrhosis.
-
Pernicious anaemia and Vitamin B12 deficiency
Academic text (2012) -
Vitamin B12 injections are used to treat both pernicious anaemia and vitamin B12 deficiency.
Academic text (2012) -
Many older adults are at risk for pernicious anemia due to decreased production of intrinsic factor.
Synonyms
A long-term low red blood cell level when the body cannot absorb vitamin B12, often in older people
How Severe
Surface Forms
Morphology
Knowing 'pernicious' (harmful/insidious) and 'anemia' (low red blood cells) lets a learner infer this is a serious or harmful form of anemia, so the basic sense is compositional. However, the term has a specific medical meaning (B12‑related, chronic/progressive pathology) that is not predictable from the constituents alone, so full interpretation requires specialist knowledge.
Etymology
Pernicious anemia comes from older medicine: pernicious meant 'deadly' and anemia meant 'not enough red blood cells'. Before doctors knew about vitamin B12, this illness often got worse and could kill people, so the name links the danger to the blood problem and stayed even after treatment was found.