Main Entry: relapsing fever

Function: noun

: a variable acute infectious disease that is marked by sudden recurring episodes of high fever which usually last from three to seven days, are typically accompanied by myalgia, arthralgia, headache, nausea, and chills, and often end in a crisis stage and that is caused by a spirochete of the genus Borrelia transmitted by the bite of a body louse (Pediculus humanus humanus) or a tick of the genus Ornithodoros and found in the circulating blood—see mianeh fever