sandfly fever

noun

, Pathology.

1. a usually mild viral disease occurring in hot, dry areas, characterized by fever, eye pain, and sometimes a rash, transmitted by sandflies of the genus Phlebotomus.

Word History and Origins

Origin of sandfly fever¹

First recorded in 1910–15

Example Sentences

Malaria, dysentery, smallpox, typhus and sandfly fever were everpresent.

From Time Magazine Archive

In so far as there was sickness it consisted of a certain amount of dysentery, almost unavoidable in an army in the Field, septic sores, which are unusually rife, and a slight epidemic of sandfly fever.

From Project Gutenberg