n. inflammation of the brain, typically caused by viral infection. The symptoms may be mild, with influenza-like characteristics, or severe and potentially fatal, with fever, vomiting, confusion or disorientation, drowsiness, seizures, and coma or loss of consciousness. See also encephalitis lethargica; herpes-simplex encephalitis; meningoencephalitis; polioencephalitis. —encephaliticadj.
a contiguous repetition of the same three nucleotides within a nucleic acid (DNA or RNA). The occurrence of extra trinucleotide repeats in certain genes causes dysfunction, inluding Huntington’s disease and fragile X syndrome.