Friday, January 18, 2019

word of the day: blepharitis

The word of the day is blepharitis:

Inflammation of the eyelids.  (https://www.dictionary.com/browse/blepharitis?s=t)

"The twisting motion of spirochetes, such as the ones that cause syphilis and Lyme disease, evidently allows them to wiggle through obstacles that other bacteria can't easily cross, such as human organ linings, mucous membranes, and the barrier between our circulatory system and our central nervous system - a fateful degree of access.  Even the less dynamic shapes, the short rods known as bacilli, the spheres known as cocci, and the rods slightly curved like commas, serve well enough the bacteria responsible for a long list of diseases: anthrax, pneumonia, cholera, dysentery, hemoglobinuria, blepharitis, strep throat, scarlet fever, and acne, among others."

 - David Quammen, The Tangled Tree: A Radical New History of Life

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