Rift Valley fever: Meaning and Definition of

Rift' Val"ley fe'ver

Pronunciation: (rift), [key]
  1. a highly infectious viral disease of humans and animals, transmitted by mosquitoes and other insects, occurring in Africa and characterized in humans by headache, fever, eye discomfort, and muscle aches, progressing in some cases to encephalitis, blindness, or internal bleeding.
Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Copyright © 1997, by Random House, Inc., on Infoplease.