GC: n
S: PubMed Health – http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0001379/ (last access: 29 November 2013); http://www.healthline.com/health/beriberi (last access: 2 June 2016).
N: 1. Also beri-beri, paralytic disease prevalent in much of India, 1703, literally “great weakness,” intensifying reduplication of Sinhalese beri “weakness.”
2. beriberi, nutritional disorder caused by a deficiency of thiamin (vitamin B1) and characterized by impairment of the nerves and heart. General symptoms include loss of appetite and overall lassitude, digestive irregularities, and a feeling of numbness and weakness in the limbs and extremities. (The term beriberi is derived from the Sinhalese word meaning “extreme weakness.”) In the form known as dry beriberi, there is a gradual degeneration of the long nerves, first of the legs and then of the arms, with associated atrophy of muscle and loss of reflexes. In wet beriberi, a more acute form, there is edema (overabundance of fluid in the tissues) resulting largely from cardiac failure and poor circulation. In infants breast-fed by mothers who are deficient in thiamin, beriberi may lead to rapidly progressive heart failure.
3. Cultural Interrelation: We can mention Beriberi, White Rice and Vitamin B: A Disease, a Cause, and a Cure (2000) by Kenneth J. Carpenter.
S: 1. OED – http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?allowed_in_frame=0&search=beriberi&searchmode=none (last access: 2 September 2014). 2. EncBrit – http://global.britannica.com/science/beriberi (last access: 29 November 2013). 3. http://dannyreviews.com/h/Beriberi.html (last access: 6 June 2016).
GV: beri-beri.
S: DORLAND p. 210; http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?allowed_in_frame=0&search=beriberi&searchmode=none (last access: 2 September 2014).
SYN: thiamine deficiency, vitamin B1 deficiency.
S: PubMed Health – http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0001379/ (last access: 29 November 2013)
