porphyria

[pawr-feer-ee-uh, -fahy-ree-uh]

noun

Pathology.

1. a defect of blood pigment metabolism in which porphyrins are produced in excess, are present in the blood, and are found in the urine.

porphyria

/ pɔːˈfɪrɪə /

noun

1. a hereditary disease of body metabolism, producing abdominal pain, mental confusion, etc

Word History and Origins

Origin of porphyria¹

First recorded in 1920–25; porphyr(in) + -ia

Word History and Origins

Origin of porphyria¹

C19: from New Latin, from porphyrin a purple substance excreted by patients suffering from this condition, from Greek porphura purple

Example Sentences

For many years, it was believed the king suffered from acute porphyria, a genetic disorder that can affect the nervous system.

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The drug treats acute intermittent porphyria, which runs in families and can leave people unable to work or have a normal life.

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Sue Burrell no longer has bouts of severe pain caused by her acute intermittent porphyria.

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God knows, there were other places he could have gone – claiming to have caught porphyria from a sofa once owned by George III, for instance, or to have been chemically castrated in ’Nam.

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The drug, Givlaari, uses a mechanism known as RNA interference to target and “silence” specific genetic material, blocking the production of the protein that causes acute hepatic porphyria.

Read more on Washington Post