Category: Qa-Qz

An old term for a peritonsillar abscess. This is a collection of pus (an abscess) behind the tonsils that pushes one of the tonsils toward the uvula (the prominent soft tissue dangling from the back of the palate in the back of the mouth).A peritonsillar abscess is generally very painful. It is usually also associated with a decreased ability to…

Someone in his or her fifties. 

The original antimalarial agent, quinine took its name from the Peruvian Indian word “kina” meaning “bark of the tree” referring to the cinchona tree. From this tree, quinine was first obtained. The Peruvian Indians called it “the fever tree.” Quinine, a large and complex molecule, is the most important alkaloid found in cinchona bark. Until World War I, it was the only effective…

Inactive, resting. For example, tuberculosis can be a quiescent (inactive) infection.

Inactivity, quietness. In cells, quiescence is the state of not dividing. In neurons (nerve cells), quiescence is the state of not firing. The word comes from the Latin “quiescere”, to become quiet. Quiescence suggests a temporary cessation of activity.

Seen on a prescription, qid (or q.i.d.) means 4 times a day (from the Latin quater in die). The abbreviation qid or q.i.d. is also sometimes written without a period in capital letters as “QID”. However it is written, it is one of a number of hallowed abbreviations of Latin terms that have been traditionally used in prescriptions…

Pattern of inheritance that seems due to a dominant trait but is in fact due to the mating of a person who has a recessive disorder (with two copies of a gene causing the disease) with someone who is an asymptomatic carrier (with one copy of the same gene but no symptoms).

A period of isolation decreed to control the spread of infectious disease. Before the era of antibiotics and other medications, quarantine was one of the few available means for halting the spread of infectious diseases.

Seen on a prescription, qd (or, written with periods, q.d.) means one a day (from the Latin quaque die). The abbreviation is sometimes written without a period in capital letters as “QD”. However it is written, it is one of a number of hallowed abbreviations of Latin terms that have been traditionally used in prescriptions to…

If a medicine is to be taken every so- many hours, it is written “q_h”; the “q” standing for the Latin word for once “quaque” and the “h” indicating the number of hours. So, for example, “2 caps q4h” means “Take 2 capsules every 4 hours.” However it is written, it is one of a…