focal infection

American  

noun

Pathology, Dentistry.

1. an infection in which bacteria are localized in some region, as the tonsils or the tissue around a tooth, from which they may spread to some other organ or structure of the body.

---

focal infection British  

noun

1. a bacterial infection limited to a specific part of the body, such as the tonsils or a gland

---

Etymology

Origin of focal infection

First recorded in 1920–25

Example Sentences

One of the subtlest causes is focal infection, which may lower the resistance of the heart or sensitize it to pain.

From Time Magazine Archive

Physicians noted a toxemia which they believed due to a focal infection in her appendix.

From Time Magazine Archive

The thing for doctors to do in such cases, he said, is to look for a "focal conflict" as well as for a focal infection.

From Time Magazine Archive

With focal infection as his theme the Billings Lecturer must be an eminent clinician, a topnotch diagnostician, a wise interpreter of the symptoms which a patient brings to his examination room.

From Time Magazine Archive