black disease


nounVeterinary Pathology.
  1. an acute, usually fatal disease of sheep caused by general intoxication from Clostridium novyi, an anaerobic organism that multiplies in parts of the liver damaged by the common liver fluke.

Origin of black disease

1
First recorded in 1910–15

Words Nearby black disease

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

British Dictionary definitions for black disease

black disease

noun
  1. vet science an infectious necrotic hepatitis in sheep and occasionally cattle caused by to toxins produced by infection with species of Clostridial . Secondary to liver fluke infestation, the disease is characterized by sudden death. So-called because of the black discolouration of subcutaneous tissues due to congestion and haemorrhage seen at post-mortem

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012