pox

/pɑks/

/pɒks/

Other forms: poxes

A pox is an illness, especially one that's particularly contagious and causes blisters or rashes. Today, most poxes are preventable through vaccines.

The most devastating of the poxes was probably smallpox, a viral disease that killed around 500 million people during the 20th century before being officially eradicated in 1980. A more common pox is chickenpox, which is highly infectious and can be fatal but is not as deadly. What these illnesses have in common is scarring blisters, once known themselves as pox, from pock, "pustule or blister."

Definitions of pox

1. noun

   a contagious disease characterized by purulent skin eruptions that may leave pock marks
   types:

   smallpox, variola, variola major

   a highly contagious viral disease characterized by fever and weakness and skin eruption with pustules that form scabs that slough off leaving scars

   chicken pox, chickenpox, varicella

   an acute contagious disease caused by herpes varicella zoster virus; causes a rash of vesicles on the face and body

   cowpox, vaccinia

   a viral disease of cattle causing a mild skin disease affecting the udder; formerly used to inoculate humans against smallpox

   Cuban itch, Kaffir pox, West Indian smallpox, alastrim, milk pox, pseudosmallpox, pseudovariola, variola minor, white pox

   a mild form of smallpox caused by a less virulent form of the virus

   type of:

   contagion, contagious disease

   any disease easily transmitted by contact
2. noun

   a common venereal disease caused by the treponema pallidum spirochete; symptoms change through progressive stages; can be congenital (transmitted through the placenta)
   synonyms: lues, lues venerea, syph, syphilis

   types:

   primary syphilis

   the first stage; characterized by a chancre at the site of infection

   secondary syphilis

   the second stage; characterized by eruptions of the skin and mucous membrane

   tertiary syphilis

   the third stage; characterized by involvement of internal organs especially the brain and spinal cord as well as the heart and liver

   neurosyphilis

   syphilis of the central nervous system

   locomotor ataxia, tabes dorsalis

   syphilis of the spinal cord characterized by degeneration of sensory neurons and stabbing pains in the trunk and legs and unsteady gait and incontinence and impotence

   type of:

   Cupid's disease, Cupid's itch, STD, VD, Venus's curse, dose, sexually transmitted disease, social disease, venereal disease, venereal infection

   a communicable infection transmitted by sexual intercourse or genital contact