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ProbableNamed from the place

Ohio Valley disease

noun · first attested 20th century

A lung infection named for the valley where almost every resident meets it.

Another name for histoplasmosis, a lung infection caught from a soil fungus.

Ohio River·United States

40.4430°N -80.0171°W · Q4915

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Record

Relationship
Named from the place
Confidence
ProbableThe conventional story is likely, with caveats.
Attested
20th century
Part of speech
noun

Explanations here are written for this atlas. Dictionary text is not copied; the sources are linked so the claim can be checked.

How it traveled
  1. Step 1

    Ohio River

  2. In English

    Ohio Valley disease

The entry

Histoplasma capsulatum thrives in the moist soils of the Ohio and Mississippi valleys, especially where bird or bat droppings enrich them, and most residents are exposed without ever falling ill. The regional name stuck in American medicine even though the fungus occurs on several continents.

United States

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