Dictionary

travelers’ diarrhea Diarrhea that results from infections acquired while traveling to another country. Among the causes of travelers’ diarrhea are enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli and a variety of viruses.

treadmill A machine with a moving strip on which one walks without moving forward. A treadmill was originally a wide wheel turned by the weight of people climbing on steps around its edge, used in the past to provide power for machines or as a punishment in prisons. The treadmill today serves as a device…

treadmill, exercise See exercise treadmill.

tremor An abnormal, repetitive shaking movement of the body. Tremors have many causes and can be inherited, related to illnesses (such as thyroid disease), or caused by fever, hypothermia, drugs, or fear.

trench fever A disease borne by body lice that was first recognized in the trenches of World War I, when it is estimated to have affected more than 1 million people. Trench fever is still seen endemically in Mexico, Africa, Eastern Europe, and elsewhere. Urban trench fever occurs among homeless people and street alcoholics, and…

trench foot A painful condition caused by exposure of the foot for several days. Trench foot was common during trench warfare in World War I and World War II, when soldiers stood for days and weeks in wet, muddy ditches without being able to change their footwear; today it is seen most frequently in urban…

trench mouth See acute membranous gingivitis.

Treponema pallidum The cause of syphilis, a worm-like, spiral-shaped bacterium called a spirochete that wiggles vigorously when viewed under a microscope.

triage The process of sorting people based on their need for immediate medical treatment as compared to their chance of benefiting from such care. Triage is done in emergency rooms, disasters, and wars, when limited medical resources must be allocated to maximize the number of survivors. Triage in this sense originated in World War I….

TRICARE See CHAMPUS.

triceps The muscle that extends (straightens) the forearm. The triceps can be felt as the tense muscle in the back of the upper arm while one is doing push-ups. The triceps has three heads, or origins. Its full name is the triceps brachii.

Trichinella spiralis The worm that causes trichinosis. Trichinella spiralis larvae can infest pigs and wild game. It hibernates in muscle tissue within a protective cyst. When a human or an animal eats meat that contains infective Trichinella cysts, the acid in the stomach dissolves the hard covering of the cyst and releases the worms. The…