swine erysipelas

swine erysipelas

noun

Definition of SWINE ERYSIPELAS

: a destructive contagious disease of various mammals and birds that is caused by a bacterium of the genus Erysipelothrix (E. rhusiopathiae), that may occur in an acute highly fatal septicemic form or take a chronic course marked by endocarditis, arthritis, or hives, and that is of especially economic importance in swine and domesticated turkeys—called also erysipelas