CHOLERA

[chol.era] n [L] (1601): any of several diseases of humans and domestic animals usu. marked by severe gastrointestinal symptoms; esp: an acute diarrheal disease caused by an enterotoxin produced by a comma-shaped gram-negative bacillus (Vibrio cholerae syn. V. comma) when it is present in large numbers in the proximal part of the human small intestine