Bible Dictionary
DYSENTERY
Dysentery is an intestinal disease causing severe illness and often fever. In Acts 28:8 it afflicted the father of Publius on Malta.
Definition
Dysentery is an intestinal disease that may be acute, feverish, prolonged, and severe. It can be accompanied by high temperature and may become chronic or fatal.
Biblical Usage
In Acts 28:8, the father of Publius on Malta suffered from fever and dysentery when Paul visited him after the shipwreck. A similar intestinal malady is associated with the illness of Jehoram in 2 Chronicles 21.
Historical Background
The disease has at times occurred epidemically in Malta and was reported among the garrison there. The supplied material identifies a parasitic microbe as its cause and notes that some forms may continue for years.
Related Figures
Historical Bible Dictionaries
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (ISBE)
<p>dis'-en-ter-i (dusenteria):</p><p>In Ac 28:8 the Revised Version (British and American) uses this word in place of the phrase "bloody flux" of the King James Version to describe the disease by which the father of Publius was affected in Malta at the time of Paul's shipwreck. The acute form of this disease is often attended with high temperature, hence, Luke speaks of it as "fever and dysentery" (puretois kai dusenteria).</p><p>The disease is still occasionally epidemic in Malta where there have been several bad outbreaks among the garrison in the last century, and it has proved to be an intractable and fatal disease there. It is due to parasitic microbe, the Bacillus dysenteriae. In 2Ch 21:19 there is reference to an epidemic of a similar nature in the days of Jehoram. The malady, as predicted by Elisha, attacked the king and assumed a chronic form in the course of which portions of the intestine sloughed. This condition sometimes occurs in the amoebic form of dysentery, cases of which sometimes last over two years.</p><p>Alexander Macalister</p>