malignant pustule

malignant pustule
    n 1: a form of anthrax infection that begins as papule that
         becomes a vesicle and breaks with a discharge of toxins;
         symptoms of septicemia are severe with vomiting and high
         fever and profuse sweating; the infection is often fatal
         [syn: {cutaneous anthrax}, {malignant pustule}]
    

malignant \ma*lig"nant\, a. [L. malignans, -antis, p. pr. of
   malignare, malignari, to do or make maliciously. See
   {Malign}, and cf. {Benignant}.]
   1. Disposed to do harm, inflict suffering, or cause distress;
      actuated by extreme malevolence or enmity; virulently
      inimical; bent on evil; malicious.
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            A malignant and a turbaned Turk.      --Shak.
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   2. Characterized or caused by evil intentions; pernicious.
      "Malignant care." --Macaulay.
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            Some malignant power upon my life.    --Shak.
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            Something deleterious and malignant as his touch.
                                                  --Hawthorne.
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   3. (Med.) Tending to produce death; threatening a fatal
      issue; virulent; as, malignant diphtheria.
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   {Malignant pustule} (Med.), a very contagious disease
      produced by infection of subcutaneous tissues with the
      bacterium {Bacillus anthracis}. It is transmitted to man
      from animals and is characterized by the formation, at the
      point of reception of the infection, of a vesicle or
      pustule which first enlarges and then breaks down into an
      unhealthy ulcer. It is marked by profound exhaustion and
      often fatal. The disease in animals is called {charbon};
      in man it is called {cutaneous anthrax}, and formerly was
      sometimes called simply {anthrax}.
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Pustule \Pus"tule\ (?; 135), n. [L. pustula, and pusula: cf. F.
   pustule.] (Med.)
   A vesicle or an elevation of the cuticle with an inflamed
   base, containing pus.
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   {Malignant pustule}. See under {Malignant}.
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