What is "histiocytosis"

n. (context medicine English) An excess of histiocytes, associated with various rare diseases.

n. a blood disease characterized by an abnormal multiplication of macrophages

In medicine, histiocytosis refers to an excessive number of histiocytes, (tissue macrophages), and is typically used to refer to a group of rare diseases which share this as a characteristic. Occasionally and confusingly, the term "histiocytosis" is sometimes used to refer to individual diseases.

According to the Histiocytosis Association of America, 1 in 200,000 children in the United States are born with histiocytosis each year. HAA also states that most of the people diagnosed with histiocytosis are children under the age of 10, although the disease can afflict adults. The University of California, San Francisco, states that the disease usually occurs from birth to age 15.

Histiocytosis (and malignant histiocytosis) are both important in veterinary as well as human pathology.