echinococcus
noun
echi·no·coc·cus i-ˌkī-nə-ˈkä-kəs 
plural echinococci i-ˌkī-nə-ˈkäk-ˌ(s)ī
-ˈkäk-(ˌ)(s)ē
: any of a genus (Echinococcus) of tapeworms that alternate a minute adult living as a commensal in the intestine of carnivores with a hydatid larva invading tissues especially of the liver of cattle, sheep, swine, and humans and acting as a dangerous pathogen
Example Sentences
Recent Examples on the Web But about half of patients that receive treatment for an echinococcus illness do so within a few years of being infected. 
Korin Miller, SELF, 2 Aug. 2018
Korin Miller, SELF, 2 Aug. 2018 Word History
Etymology
borrowed from New Latin, genus name, from echino- echino- + -coccus -coccus
Note: The genus name was introduced by the Swedish-born German naturalist Karl Asmund Rudolphi (1771-1832) in "Beobachtungen über die Eingeweidewürmer," Archiv für Zoologie und Zootomie, herausgegeben von C.R.W. Wiedemann, Zweiten Bandes erstes Stück (1801), pp. 52-53. The name refers to the "wreath of hooks" (Hakenkranz) that terminates the worm's scolex.
First Known Use
1839, in the meaning defined above
Medical Definition
echinococcus
noun
echi·no·coc·cus -nə-ˈkäk-əs
1
capitalized : a genus of tapeworms of the family Taeniidae (such as Echinococcus granulosus and E. multilocularis) that alternate a minute adult living as a harmless commensal in the intestine of dogs and other carnivores with a hydatid larva invading tissues especially of the liver of mammals (such as cattle, sheep, swine, and humans), and acting as a serious often fatal pathogen
2
plural echinococci -ˈkäk-ˌ(s)ī -ˈkäk-(ˌ)(s)ē : any tapeworm of the genus Echinococcus
-ˈkäk-(ˌ)(s)ē : any tapeworm of the genus Echinococcus also : hydatid sense 1