What is "relapsing fever"

Relapsing \Re*laps"ing\, a. Marked by a relapse; falling back; tending to return to a former worse state.

Relapsing fever (Med.), an acute, epidemic, contagious fever, which prevails also endemically in Ireland, Russia, and some other regions. It is marked by one or two remissions of the fever, by articular and muscular pains, and by the presence, during the paroxism of spiral bacterium ( Spiroch[ae]te) in the blood. It is not usually fatal. Called also famine fever, and recurring fever.

n. (context pathology English) an infection caused by certain bacteria of the genus ''Borrelia'', transmitted by louse and ticks

n. marked by recurring high fever and transmitted by the bite of infected lice or ticks; characterized by episodes of high fever and chills and headache and muscle pain and nausea that recur every week or ten days for several months [syn: recurrent fever]

Relapsing fever is a vector-borne disease caused by infection with certain bacteria in the genus Borrelia, which are transmitted through the bites of lice or soft-bodied ticks (genus Ornithodoros).