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Definition of "kala-azar" []

  • A chronic, often fatal disease occurring chiefly in Asia, caused by the protozoan parasite (Leishmania donovani) and characterized by irregular fever, enlargement of the spleen and liver, and emaciation. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Use "kala-azar" in a sentence
  • "More than two million children are at risk of malaria and kala-azar in famine stricken Africa."
  • "Malaria and filariasis are spread by mosquitoes, sleeping sickness by tsetse flies, kala-azar by sand flies, river blindness by black flies."
  • "This seems to be the case for cholera, kala-azar, and schistosomiasis, which did not become established in the Amazonian forest ecosystem (medium certainty)."