Borna disease

noun

Bor·​na disease

ˈbȯrnə-

: a virus disease of equines related to sleeping sickness that occurs as an acute infectious inflammation of the brain and spinal cord usually giving rise to violent trembling, unsteady gait, inability to swallow, great excitement and signs of pain, or to stupor

Word History

Etymology

translation of German Bornasche Krankheit, from Borna, Saxony, Germany, where the disease was especially prevalent in the 1890s

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