Weil's disease

Weil's disease

noun \ˈvī(ə)lz-, ˈwī(ə)lz-\

Definition of WEIL'S DISEASE

: a severe form of leptospirosis that is characterized by jaundice, chills, fever, muscle pain, and hepatomegaly and that is caused by a spirochete of the genus Leptospira (L. interrogans, especially serotype icterohaemorrhagiae)—called also leptospiral jaundice, Weil's syndrome

Biographical Note for WEIL'S DISEASE

Weil \ˈvī(ə)l\ Adolf (1848–1916), German physician. Weil held professorships in Berlin and later in Tartu, Estonia. In 1886 he published a classic description of a type of leptospirosis characterized by jaundice, nephritis, muscular pain, fever, and enlargement of the spleen and liver. The disease had been described originally by an English physician some 23 years before.