TUBERCULOSIS

noun (plural tuberculoses) Etymology: New Latin Date: 1882 a highly variable communicable disease of humans and some other vertebrates that is caused by the tubercle bacillus and rarely in the United States by a related mycobacterium ( Mycobacterium bovis ), that affects especially the lungs but may spread to other areas (as the kidney or spinal column), and that is characterized by fever, cough, difficulty in breathing, formation of tubercles, caseation, pleural effusions, and fibrosis