|
| | |
Acanthamoeba keratitis
Acanthamoeba keratitis Infection of the cornea by acanthamoeba, a microscopic water-borne ameba. The disease tends to occur in people who wear contact lens. It can accompany a bacterial infection of the eye. Acanthamoeba keratitis can produce corneal ulceration and result in severe loss of vision and even blindness. Signs and symptoms are persistent redness and pain in the eye. Treatment is with multiple antibiotics, often including antifungal drugs, and sometimes surgery after the infection has subsided.
RELATED TERMS--------------------------------------
Infection
Anything that invades the body and reproduces. Infections can be bacteria, protozoa, fungi, or viruses. Bacteria and fungi are one celled creatures that cause many infections including strep throat, bladder infections, and some lung infections. Fungi cause “athlete’s foot” and thrush, an infection in the mouth. Protozoa are small organisms with many cells that can cause infections in the guts or in the lungs. Most healthy people do not get protozoal infections, but people with suppressed immune systems can. Viruses are not really organisms; they are tiny particles that can live only inside another cell. They reproduce by taking over a cell and causing that cell to make more virus particles, rather than doing what the cell is supposed to do. Viruses cause most colds and flu cases.
Cornea
The front part of the eye that acts as a window for the entrance of light rays. It is attached to the other outer coat of the eye, the sclera; the white part of the eye. The cornea provides a significant amount of focusing power for the eye (the rest is provided by the lens). Because it has many nerve fibers, an injury or foreign body causes significant pain and discomfort.
Acanthamoeba
A microscopic organism, an amoeba, found in soil, dust and fresh water (lakes, rivers, hot springs and hot tubs). Acanthamoeba also occur in brackish water and sea water as well as in heating, venting, and air conditioner units, humidifiers, and dialysis units. Acanthamoeba can enter the skin through a cut, wound, or through the nostrils and, once inside the body, can travel to the lungs and through the bloodstream to other parts of the body, especially to the central nervous system (the brain and spinal cord). Through improper storage, handling, and disinfection of contact lenses, Acanthamoeba can enter the eye and there cause infection. A particularly dire infection caused by Acanthamoeba called granulomatous amebic encephalitis is characterized by headache, stiff neck, nausea, vomiting, confusion, loss of balance, seizures, and coma that can progress over several weeks and end in death. Acanthamoeba infections occur more frequently in people with compromised immune systems and the chronically ill. Eye and skin infections are generally treatable while infections of the brain are almost always fatal.
Ameba
"Also amoeba. A single-celled (protozoan) organism that constantly changes shape. The word ""ameba"" is from the Greek ""amoibe"" meaning ""change."" Ameba can infect the bowels to cause diarrhea and the liver to cause abscess formation. "
Disease
Illness or sickness often characterized by typical patient problems (symptoms) and physical findings (signs). Disruption sequence: The events that occur when a fetus that is developing normally is subjected to a destructive agent such as the rubella (German measles) virus.
Lens
The lens of the eye is like an adjustable lens of a camera and focuses light rays on to the retina for sharp images. A condition called presbyopia occurs when the lens is no longer able to adjust for objects at different distances.
Bacterial
Of or pertaining to bacteria. For example, a bacterial lung infection.
Eye
The organ of sight. The eye has a number of components. These components include but are not limited to the cornea, iris, pupil, lens, retina, macula, optic nerve, choroid and vitreous.
Keratitis
An inflammation of the cornea often caused by a virus or bacteria. Scarring and loss of vision may result.
Corneal
Pertaining to the cornea, the clear front window of the eye that transmits and focuses light into the eye.
Ulceration
Break in the skin, usually on lower legs or fingers, related to poor circulation and blood pooling.
Vision
The sense of sight.
Blindness
Legal blindness is defined as: 1) visual acuity of 20/200 (only being able to see the big E on the eye chart) or less in the best eye even with the eyes corrected by glasses or contact lenses; or, 2) The peripheral visual field is reduced to 20 degrees of visual angle or less. Twenty degrees of visual angle is about the size of a one foot ruler held at arms length.
Pain
An unpleasant sensory or emotional experience primarily associated with tissue damage, or described in terms of tissue damage, or both.
Antifungal
A drug used to treat fungal infections.
Surgery
Treating diseases or other medical conditions by operating on a patient to remove or repair parts of the body.
SIMILAR TERMS--------------------------------------
Acanthamoeba
A microscopic organism, an amoeba, found in soil, dust and fresh water (lakes, rivers, hot springs and hot tubs). Acanthamoeba also occur in brackish water and sea water as well as in heating, venting, and air conditioner units, humidifiers, and dialysis units. Acanthamoeba can enter the skin through a cut, wound, or through the nostrils and, once inside the body, can travel to the lungs and through the bloodstream to other parts of the body, especially to the central nervous system (the brain and spinal cord). Through improper storage, handling, and disinfection of contact lenses, Acanthamoeba can enter the eye and there cause infection. A particularly dire infection caused by Acanthamoeba called granulomatous amebic encephalitis is characterized by headache, stiff neck, nausea, vomiting, confusion, loss of balance, seizures, and coma that can progress over several weeks and end in death. Acanthamoeba infections occur more frequently in people with compromised immune systems and the chronically ill. Eye and skin infections are generally treatable while infections of the brain are almost always fatal.
Acanthosis nigricans
"A skin condition characterized by dark thickened velvety patches, especially in the folds of skin in the axilla (armpit), groin and back of the neck. The condition is complex. It can occur with endocrine diseases such as Cushing disease, tumors of the pituitary, and diabetes mellitus. It is common in people who have insulin resistance -- whose body is not responding correctly to the insulin that they make in their pancreas. Acanthosis nigricans also occurs with underlying malignancies (especially carcinomas of the vicera), administration of certain drugs, and as a genetic disorder inherited in an autosomal dominant manner.
PREVIOUS AND NEXT TERMS--------------------------------------
Abused inhalant
A breathable chemical vapor that is abused. All abused inhalants produce psychoactive (mind-altering) effects.
AC
"Abbreviation for a.c. (ante cibum on a prescription); acromioclavicular (shoulder joint); antecubital (crook of elbow).
Acanthamoeba
A microscopic organism, an amoeba, found in soil, dust and fresh water (lakes, rivers, hot springs and hot tubs). Acanthamoeba also occur in brackish water and sea water as well as in heating, venting, and air conditioner units, humidifiers, and dialysis units. Acanthamoeba can enter the skin through a cut, wound, or through the nostrils and, once inside the body, can travel to the lungs and through the bloodstream to other parts of the body, especially to the central nervous system (the brain and spinal cord). Through improper storage, handling, and disinfection of contact lenses, Acanthamoeba can enter the eye and there cause infection. A particularly dire infection caused by Acanthamoeba called granulomatous amebic encephalitis is characterized by headache, stiff neck, nausea, vomiting, confusion, loss of balance, seizures, and coma that can progress over several weeks and end in death. Acanthamoeba infections occur more frequently in people with compromised immune systems and the chronically ill. Eye and skin infections are generally treatable while infections of the brain are almost always fatal.
Acanthamoeba keratitis
Acanthosis nigricans
"A skin condition characterized by dark thickened velvety patches, especially in the folds of skin in the axilla (armpit), groin and back of the neck. The condition is complex. It can occur with endocrine diseases such as Cushing disease, tumors of the pituitary, and diabetes mellitus. It is common in people who have insulin resistance -- whose body is not responding correctly to the insulin that they make in their pancreas. Acanthosis nigricans also occurs with underlying malignancies (especially carcinomas of the vicera), administration of certain drugs, and as a genetic disorder inherited in an autosomal dominant manner.
Acapnia
"Less than the normal level of carbon dioxide in the blood. The opposite of hypercapnia. The origin of the word ""acapnia"" is curious. It comes from the Greek ""a-"" meaning ""without"" + ""kapnos"" meaning ""smoke"" so acapnia literally means ""smokeless"" referring to carbon dioxide which is a principal part of smoke.
Acaricide
An agent, usually a chemical, that kills mites. This class of pesticides is large and includes antibiotic acaricides, carbamate acaricides, formamidine acaricides, mite growth regulators, organophosphate acaricides, and many others. From the Latin acarus, a mite + -cide, to kill.
ACC
Adenoid cystic carcinoma.
We thank you for using the Health Dictionary to search for Acanthamoeba keratitis. If you have a better definition for Acanthamoeba keratitis than the one presented here, please let us know by making use of the suggest a term option. This definition of Acanthamoeba keratitis may be disputed by other professionals. Our attempt is to provide easy definitions on Acanthamoeba keratitis and any other medical topic for the public at large.This dictionary contains 25007 terms. |
|
|
