pinta

pin·ta   (pĭn'tə, pēn'tä)    n.  A contagious skin disease prevalent in tropical America, caused by a spirochete (Treponema carateum) and marked by extreme thickening and spotty discoloration of the skin. [Spanish, painted mark, colored spot, from Vulgar Latin *pīncta; see pint.]

Main Entry: pin·ta
Pronunciation: 'pint-&, 'pin-"tä
Function: noun
: a chronic skin disease that is endemic in tropical America, that occurssuccessively as an initial papule, a generalized eruption, and a patchy loss of pigment, and that is caused by a spirochete of the genus Treponema (T. careteum) morphologicallyindistinguishable from the causative agent of syphilis called also mal del pinto, pinto

pinta pin·ta (pĭn'tə, pēn'tä)
n.
A contagious skin disease prevalent in tropical America, caused by the spirochete Treponema carateum and characterized by thickening and spotty discoloration of the skin.

pinta

chronic tropical skin disease characterized initially by the appearance of dry, scaly papular lesions followed after several years by abnormally coloured patches called pintides. The pintides may be white, where pigment cells have been destroyed by the disease, or blue, red, or pink. The disease is native to Central and South America and is caused by infection with Treponema carateum, an organism that is indistinguishable from that of syphilis. There is some evidence of a degree of cross-immunity between the two diseases, and the treatment of both is the same. Unlike syphilis, however, pinta has little effect on the general health of the patient and is transmitted by nonvenereal contact

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