rat-bite fever

noun

: either of two febrile bacterial diseases of humans usually transmitted by the bite of a rat

Examples of rat-bite fever in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Humans can also contract rat-bite fever by consuming food or drink fouled with rodent waste. —Claire Panosian Dunavan, Discover Magazine, 28 Feb. 2018

In 2006, a medical photo quiz in Clinical Infectious Diseases described a 26-year-old resident of Boston with classic features of rat-bite fever, including fever, chills, and bumpy, red blisters. —Claire Panosian Dunavan, Discover Magazine, 28 Feb. 2018

But rats do carry pathogens that can result in other diseases, such as the rare but still dangerous rat-bite fever. —René A. Guzman, ExpressNews.com, 15 Sep. 2020

Word History

First Known Use

1910, in the meaning defined above

Medical Definition

rat-bite fever

noun

: either of two febrile human diseases usually transmitted by the bite of a rat:

a

: a disease that is marked by irregular relapsing fever with chills and nausea or vomiting, rashes on the arms, legs, hands and feet, and muscular pain and arthritis, and that is caused by a bacterium of the genus Streptobacillus (S. moniliformis)

b

: a disease that is marked by recurrent fever and chills, painful inflammation of the bite wound, and muscular pain, rash, and enlargement of the lymph nodes especially in the region where the bite occurred and that is caused by a bacterium of the genus Spirillum (S. minor synonym S. minus)

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