rheumatic fever
2
5.4
- noun
- /ruːˈmætɪk ˈfiːvər/
- Specialized
:
fiebre reumática
- His childhood bout of rheumatic fever left lasting damage to his heart valves.
- heart damage from rheumatic fever
- damaged by rheumatic fever
Examples
-
Chronic rheumatic heart disease is the most important consequence of rheumatic fever.
Academic text (2007) -
Clinical manifestations may not be seen for years after the initial episode of rheumatic fever.
Academic text (2007) -
I was five months in the hospital with rheumatic fever.
-
I tried to get back to dancing, then I collapsed with rheumatic fever.
-
And I had rheumatic fever as a child, and mumps.
-
The winter after camp, I developed rheumatic fever, another common affliction of the time.
Academic text (2011) -
She has health problems, but they have been with her ever since she had rheumatic fever as a young girl.
Fiction book (1990) -
It turned out to be a childhood attack of rheumatic fever, but was never properly diagnosed as such.
Fiction book (2002) -
In particular, some of these women suffered from such illnesses as polio, scarlet fever, and rheumatic fever when they were young children.
Academic text (1998) -
Salicin, derived from willow bark, was first used in 1874 to treat inflammation in rheumatic fever.
Academic text (2012)
Antonyms
Surface Forms
Morphology
A learner who knows 'rheumatic' (relating to joint/muscle pain) and 'fever' (high body temperature) can infer that this is a fever associated with rheumatic/joint problems, so the basic idea is compositional. However, the full clinical implications (post-streptococcal cause, joint inflammation and long-term heart valve damage) are specialized and not predictable from the parts alone, making the term only partially transparent to B1 learners.
Etymology
Rheumatic fever comes from an old idea that pain 'flows' through the body; the first part rheumatic points to aching joints and the second part fever shows the illness brings a 'high temperature'. So the name helps you remember it is a disease with painful joints and fever that can also damage the heart.