pebrine

[pey-breen]

noun

1. an infectious disease of silkworms, characterized by a black spotting of the integument and by stunted growth, caused by the protozoan Nosema bomycis.

Word History and Origins

Origin of pebrine¹

1865–70; < French < Provençal pebrino literally, peppery, with reference to the black spots. See pepper, -ine ¹

Example Sentences

In the 1850s, an infectious disease called pébrine threatened to decimate the silkworm population worldwide.

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Pebrine, peb′rin, n. a destructive disease of silkworms.—adj.

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In reading the Report made by M. de Quatrefages in 1859, it is exceedingly interesting to observe that his elaborate study of the Pébrine forced the conviction upon his mind that, in its mode of occurrence and propagation, the disease of the silkworm is, in every respect, comparable to the cholera among mankind.

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It is now certain that this devastating, cholera-like Pébrine is the effect of the growth and multiplication of the Panhistophyton in the silkworm.

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Pasteur showed that the failure of the silkworm was not due to one disease, but to two diseases--pebrine and flacherie.

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