(medicine) A hereditary disease transmitted as an autosomal recessive and characterized from infancy by evidence of autonomic nervous system dysfunction, including feeding difficulties, absence of overflow tears, indifference to pain, absent corneal reflexes and deep tendon reflexes, and absence of fungiform papillae on the tongue; most common in Jewish children.

McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific and Technical Terms. Copyright © 2003, 1994, 1989, 1984, 1978, 1976, 1974 by McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.