“+ noun
Etymology: New Latin, from encephal- + myelitis
: concurrent inflammation of the brain and spinal cord ; specifically : any of several serious enzootic arthropod-transmitted virus diseases of horses characterized by fever, sluggishness, incoordination, and damage to the central nervous system and represented in the United States by a severe eastern and a milder western form caused by distinct viruses either of which may produce encephalitis in man — called also infectious equine encephalomyelitis, sleeping sickness