Descriptor for events that occur suddenly and escalate quickly
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Fulminant (/ˈfʊlmɪnənt/) is a medical descriptor for any event or process that occurs suddenly and escalates quickly, and is intense and severe to the point of lethality, i.e., it has an explosive character.[1] The word comes from Latin fulmināre, to strike with lightning. There are several diseases described by this adjective:
Beyond these particular uses, the term is used more generally as a descriptor for sudden-onset medical conditions that are immediately threatening to life or limb. Some viral hemorrhagic fevers, such as Ebola, Lassa fever, and Lábrea fever, may kill in as little as two to five days. Diseases that cause rapidly developing lung edema, such as some kinds of pneumonia, may kill in a few hours. It was said of the "black death" (pneumonic bubonic plague) that some of its victims would die in a matter of hours after the initial symptoms appeared. Other pathologic conditions that may be fulminating in character are acute respiratory distress syndrome, asthma, acute anaphylaxis, septic shock, and disseminated intravascular coagulation.
The term is generally not used to refer to immediate death by trauma,[3] such as gunshot wound, but can refer to trauma-induced secondary conditions, such as commotio cordis, a sudden cardiac arrest caused by a blunt, non-penetrating trauma to the precordium, which causes ventricular fibrillation of the heart. Cardiac arrest and stroke in certain parts of the brain, such as in the brainstem (which controls cardiovascular and respiratory system functions), and massive hemorrhage of the great arteries (such as in perforation of the walls by trauma or by sudden opening of an aneurysm of the aorta) may be very quick, causing "fulminant death". Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) is still a mysterious cause of respiratory arrest in infants. Certain infections of the brain, such as rabies, meningococcal meningitis, or primary amebic meningoencephalitis can kill within hours to days after symptoms appear.
Some toxins, such as cyanide, may also provoke fulminant death. Abrupt hyperkalemia provoked by intravenous injection of potassium chloride leads to fulminant death by cardiac arrest.
^Cite error: The named reference :0 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^Bush, T. G.; Savidge, T. C.; Freeman, T. C.; Cox, H. J.; Campbell, E. A.; Mucke, L.; Johnson, M. H.; Sofroniew, M. V. (1998). "Fulminant Jejuno-Ileitis following Ablation of Enteric Glia in Adult Transgenic Mice". Cell. 93 (2): 189–201. doi:10.1016/S0092-8674(00)81571-8. PMID 9568712.
^"Segen's Medical Dictionary". thefreedictionary.com. Farlex, Inc. 2012. Retrieved 2020-06-27.
(a type of white blood cell), and suppression of bone marrow activity. Fulminant hepatitis, or massive hepatic cell death, is a rare and life-threatening...
bacterium implicated as a frequent cause of food poisoning—can cause fulminant liver failure through the production of cereulide, a toxin which destroys...
devices to improve heart function. Acute non-fulminant myocarditis has a less distinct onset in contrast to fulminant myocarditis, and evolves over days to months...
weeks of the onset of any hepatic symptoms. This is sub-divided into "fulminant hepatic failure", which requires onset of encephalopathy within 8 weeks...
diarrhea, but should not be given in suspected toxic megacolon. Severe or fulminant colitis. Patients need to be hospitalized immediately with subsequent...
the manufacturer's recommendation. Three of these patients developed fulminant liver failure, two underwent urgent liver transplantation, and one died...
multiple sclerosis, also known as Marburg multiple sclerosis or acute fulminant multiple sclerosis, is considered one of the multiple sclerosis borderline...
may then occur—jaundice, diarrhea, delirium, seizures, and coma due to fulminant liver failure and attendant hepatic encephalopathy caused by the accumulation...
convulsions and hemorrhagic coma commonly appear. These symptoms arise from a fulminant hepatitis which may kill in less than a week, and which characteristically...
PMID 12640291. S2CID 35033559. Lynch CR, Folkers ME, Hutson WR (June 2006). "Fulminant hepatic failure associated with the use of black cohosh: a case report"...
shortness of breath generally brings people to healthcare and marks the fulminant phase of illness. It infects the lymph nodes in the chest first, rather...
friend George Sanders. A doctor diagnosed the cause of Power's death as "fulminant angina pectoris". Power died while being transported to the hospital in...
Meningococcal disease describes infections caused by the bacterium Neisseria meningitidis (also termed meningococcus). It has a high mortality rate if...
that were revaccinated shortly before. It has two forms. The early or fulminant form of hemorrhagic smallpox (referred to as purpura variolosa) begins...
becomes apparent 3–4 days after ingestion and may result in death from fulminant liver failure several days after the overdose. In adults, the primary...
one of a short-term nature (acute); the term sometimes also connotes a fulminant nature Chronic condition or chronic disease A chronic disease is one that...
people. A few people may have a more severe form of liver disease known as fulminant hepatic failure and may die as a result. The infection may be entirely...
autoimmune hepatitis. Less commonly, liver transplantation is done for fulminant hepatic failure, in which liver failure occurs rapidly over a period of...
"Cross-species transmission of a novel adenovirus associated with a fulminant pneumonia outbreak in a new world monkey colony". PLOS Pathogens. 7 (7):...
These include Stevens–Johnson syndrome (SJS), toxic epidermal necrolysis, fulminant hepatic necrosis, agranulocytosis, aplastic anemia, and other blood dyscrasias...
is more often severe and is associated with a clinical syndrome called fulminant liver failure, with death rates around 20%. Whereas pregnant women may...
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