Clinical Diagnosis · Nervous System · Medium
Encephalitis
Meaning: Inflammation of the brain tissue itself, most often caused by a viral infection such as herpes simplex.
In practice: Fever, confusion and new seizures prompted urgent treatment with aciclovir for suspected encephalitis.
Word parts
- encephal- means brain
- -itis means inflammation
Many medical words are built from Greek and Latin parts like these, so learning a few helps you work out new terms.
Quick check
Two questions on related clinical diagnosis words.
Which word means: Pain felt in the arm, commonly referred from irritation of a cervical nerve root.
Answer: Brachialgia
Which word means: Dipstick or laboratory testing of a voided sample for blood, protein, glucose and infection markers.
Answer: Urinalysis
Words like encephalitis come up in the daily game
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