Relapse

(re-laps’) [re, again; lab i, to fall]. A return of an attack of a disease shortly after the beginning of convalescence. Relapsing Fever. An acute infectious disease due to the spirocha?ta Obermaieri. After a period of incubation of from five to seven days, the disease sets in with chill, fever, and pains in the back and limbs. The spleen enlarges, sweats and delirium occur, and the symptoms continue for five or six days, then suddenly cease by crisis. After a variable interval, usually in about a week, a second paroxysm occurs, which may be followed by a third and fourth. The disease prevails where conditions of overcrowding and defective food supply obtain; hence the name, famine fever. 553