acute disease

noun

plural acute diseases

: a disease (such as bronchitis, gastroenteritis, or the flu) of rapid onset and relatively short duration

As the population gets older, and as medical science triumphs over microbes, the burden is now shifting from acute disease to chronic disease.

—Jessie C. Gruman

Under the new transplant rules, a person facing imminent death from liver failure due to an acute disease, such as viral infection, would have top priority for getting a new organ.

—Froma Harrop

Historically, the RDAs [=recommended dietary allowances] have been set to prevent such acute diseases as scurvy or beriberi, as a result of vitamin deficiencies.

—Dolores Kong

Word History

First Known Use

1637, in the meaning defined above

Medical Definition

acute disease

noun

: a disease (such as bronchitis, gastroenteritis, or the flu) of rapid onset and relatively short duration

Anatomic classification of glaucoma is based on whether the angle of the anterior chamber is open or narrow; the more common open-angle glaucoma is a chronic disease, whereas the less common angle-closure glaucoma is an acute disease.

—Robert M. Palmer, Scientific American Medical Bulletin