Definition of "elephantiasis" [el•e•phan•ti•a•sis]

• Chronic, often extreme enlargement and hardening of cutaneous and subcutaneous tissue, especially of the legs and external genitals, resulting from lymphatic obstruction and usually caused by infestation of the lymph glands and vessels with a filarial worm. (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.

• "Nowadays, "elephantiasis" is sometimes used for severe lymphedema (a build-up of lymphatic fluid in the leg), sometimes for the specific tropical form of lymphedoma, lymphatic filariasis, caused by a parasitic infestation."
• "The first accurate ideas in reference to elephantiasis arabum are given by Rhazes, Haly-Abas, and Avicenna, and it is possibly on this account that the disease received the name elephantiasis arabum."
• "The new commitments aim to eradicate or reduce leprosy, lymphatic filariasis (also known as elephantiasis), blinding trachoma, sleeping sickness, Guinea worm, schistosomiasis (also called bilharzia), river blindness, soil-transmitted helminthes, Chagas disease and visceral leishmaniasis."