Poliomyelitis

2 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Infantile paralysis \In"fan*tile pa*ral"y*sis\ (Med.)
     An acute viral disease, affecting almost exclusively infants
     and young adults, characterized by inflammation of the
     anterior horns of the gray substance of the spinal cord. It
     is attended with febrile symptoms, motor paralysis, and
     muscular atrophy, often producing permanent deformities.


     Called also {acute anterior poliomyelitis}, {poliomyelitis}
     and {polio}. It is caused by any one of three polioviruses,
     and by the end of the twentieth century had been almost
     completely eradicated in developed countries by a widespread
     campaign of immunization.
     [Webster 1913 Suppl. +PJC]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  poliomyelitis
       n : an acute viral disease marked by inflammation of nerve cells
           of the brain stem and spinal cord [syn: {polio}, {infantile
           paralysis}, {acute anterior poliomyelitis}]