blackwater fever

American  

noun

Pathology.

1. a severe form of malaria characterized by kidney damage and hemoglobinuria resulting in urine that is dark red or black.

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blackwater fever British  

noun

1. med a rare and serious complication of malaria, characterized by massive destruction of red blood cells, producing dark red or blackish urine

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Etymology

Origin of blackwater fever

First recorded in 1880–85

Example Sentences

The disease can produce severe maternal anemia, iron deficiency, or it can spread to the kidneys and the lungs and cause a condition known as blackwater fever.

From Salon • Jun. 3, 2024

Utterly finished, the major contracted blackwater fever in jail and died too.

From Time Magazine Archive

One of my Polynesian sailors lay at death's door with blackwater fever.

From John Barleycorn by London, Jack

One later letter begged for financial assistance to tide him over the coming months; for his wife and children had been ill and he himself in hospital at Korogwe with blackwater fever for two months.

From Sketches of the East Africa Campaign by Dolbey, Robert Valentine

This is the season of blackwater fever, the pestilence that stalks in the noontide and the terror of tropical campaigning.

From Sketches of the East Africa Campaign by Dolbey, Robert Valentine