acantho-, acanth-, -acanth, -acanths, -acanthid, -acanthous

1. A sharp spiny part of a structure, such as the spinous process of a vertebra.
2. The spine.
3. In biology, a thorn-like structure or spiny protrusion on a plant or animal.

Bearing prickles or spines; having spinous processes.

Infection by free-living soil amebae of the genus Acanthamoeba that may result in a necrotizing dermal or tissue invasion, or a fulminating and usually fatal primary amebic meningoencephalitis.

1. A microscopic organism, an amoeba, found in soil, dust and fresh water (lakes, rivers, hot springs and hot tubs).
2. A free-living ameba found in soil, sewage, and water, several species of which cause acanthamebiasis.
3. A genus of free-living soil amoebae that produces no flagellate stage. Its organisms are pathogens for several infections in humans and have been found in the eye, bone, brain, and respiratory tract.

Acanthamoeba occur in brackish water and sea water; as well as, in heating, venting, and air conditioner units, humidifiers, and dialysis units.

They can enter the skin through a cut, wound, or through the nostrils and, once inside the body, can travel to the lungs and through the bloodstream to other parts of the body, especially to the central nervous system (the brain and spinal cord). Through improper storage, handling, and disinfection of contact lenses, acanthamoeba can enter the eye and cause infection there.

A particularly dire infection caused by acanthamoeba called granulomatous amebic encephalitis is characterized by headache, stiff neck, nausea, vomiting, confusion, loss of balance, seizures, and coma that can progress over several weeks and end in death.

1. The sensations as if being stuck with sharp points; such as, with pins or needles.
2. A feeling that one is being pressed by a sharp point.
3. In neurology, a perverted sensory perception by which a soft touch is sensed as the sharp sticking of a sharp object.

1. Of, or pertaining to, the Acanthus [thorny, prickly, spiny] plants.
2. In popular use, the name is chiefly native to the shores of the Mediterranean, and cultivated in England, celebrated among the Greeks and Romans for the elegance of its leaves.

A major source of silver that forms slender pointed crystals which is a major ore.

Spiney-headed worms of the phylum Acanthocephala that live parasitically in the intestines of vertebrates and are characterized by a cylindrical, retractile proboscis that bears many rows of hooked spines.

A disease primarily of fish and rodents caused by infection with intestinal worms of the phylum Acanthocephala, the thorny-headed worms, which are occasionally parasitic in humans.

Pertaining to or caused by an acanthocephalan worm.

Any plant having thorny branches or relating to such a plant.